WORTHINGTON -- A mysterious surprise event quietly publicized by St. Mary's School turned out to be a visit from the Fabulous Chinese Acrobats, delighting the whole audience Wednesday at the school -- none of whom knew what the event would be.
"We wanted it to be a total surprise to our students and our staff," said Barb Daly, principal of St. Mary's, describing how people have become used to having information at their fingertips. "We wanted to capture that total delight of children."
The acrobats visited the school's celebration of its Marathon, an annual fundraising event that brings in about 3 percent of the private school's total budget.
Daly had wondered what the school could do to reward the children, families and the community-at-large for their fundraising efforts and enthusiasm when she received a call notifying her the acrobats would be in the area.
She decided right away to keep the acrobats' show a surprise, and by the time the show started Wednesday morning, only three people knew what kind of show it would be.
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"It was wonderful!" said Barb Denno of Worthington, one of the spectators. "I don't know what I was expecting. It was spectacular."
Another spectator, Dave Kinsman, said he had no clue what the surprise would be before the show but that it was an awesome surprise.
"It shows when you have focus with your talents, what you're able to accomplish," Kinsman said.
The four acrobats, along with an announcer, demonstrated many different stunts and tricks, standing on each others' shoulders, heads and hands.
They spun plates, showed the audience foot-juggling and regular juggling and performed magic tricks, drawing gasps of amazement from the children and even a few adults.
Third-graders Brianna Newman and Nick Penning agreed they were both surprised by the nature of the show, but both also had the same comment -- "Cool!"
"Some of these children won't have the opportunity to see that kind of thing again," Daly said.
She also noted the positive qualities demonstrated by the performers -- friendship, cooperation and balance. Many of the tricks and athletic displays could only be accomplished if the acrobats worked together, just like St. Mary's can work only through the cooperation of its students, staff and families.
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Daly was pleased with the show's positive reception.
"I think everyone was pretty surprised," she said.
For video highlights, visit www.dglobe.com/video .
