With 13 competitors the evening rocked! The club was privileged to have three non-magicians, who actually hire magicians and other entertainers, pick out the winners: Sally Johnson, a talent agent;
Susan Glenn, an event coordinator; and Nick Galieti a producer, director and videographer.
Leading off the competition was Richard Hatch with an astounding newspaper tear and a finely executed Linking Ring routine.
Next Josh Burch hid a bill in an envelope from which the bill escaped; plus, he did a card routine with two decks of cards.
Brad Barton thought he could fool us with Houdini's Handcuffs and What's Next -- actually, he did!
Javier Montelongo charmed us with his always present smile but probably lost points by asking Al Lampkin to assist on stage -- bad mistake.
Tom Loveridge had an extremely clever finish for his Cups and Balls routine; and
Jess Cone, our clever coin and card man, did not let us down with his coin work in spite of his "Peek King" joke.
Ernie Flynn did his wonderful rope routine, encompassing many standard moves into one smooth and polished presentation.
Eric Wanner cracked jokes, as well as a peanut, and then dazzled us with his card-in-an-orange routine.
Dane Howick performed John Archer's Sound Box with the help of Thalia.
AJ Longhurst performed a classic ball-of-yarn-in-a-glass routine and told us about his cat that had a litter of mittens.
Craig Campbell performed a card routine,
and Kim Walkowski did a Three-Card-Monte routine using giant cards.
James Parrish did card manipulation to music and performed a four-ace trick.
Who Won? Tune in next month to find out. No, no, I'm just kidding. Eric Wanner ran away with the top prize of $200 plus possession of the traveling trophy.
Brad Barton took second honors along with $100.
Ernie Flynn, last year's grand prize winner, took third place and $50; and young James Parrish finished in 4th place and collected $25.
Refreshments were consumed right up until the lights in the neighborhood went out and we all found our way out of the basement by the light of our iPhones.