For many of us, the beginning of August means spending at least three days at The Orleans in Las Vegas, the smoke-filled casino that regularly hosts MAGIC Live.
This year was the 15th run of the convention. To celebrate, the production team, led by Stan Allen, gave attendees blue jackets that had a “checklist” on the back for each year. Attendees, if they chose to, could have a red checkmark laser printed next to those they attended. Walking around the convention, it was clear that many attendees have been to MAGIC Live many times over, though there were, as always, plenty of first-timers.
Take Kai McCullen. At 12 years old, he’s only been into magic a couple of years, ever since a magician performed for him at San Diego’s Legoland. Kai caught the magic bug hard, and is also a gymnast. So when he was in Las Vegas for a gymnastics competition last year, he visited MK Magic Shop, where he found out about MAGIC Live. “I thought it sounded pretty cool, and since I’ve never been to a convention before, I decided I wanted to go,” he said.
Attending MAGIC Live isn’t cheap, so Kai started performing street magic in San Diego Bay to raise funds. “I had a little wagon and a TV tray, and I would go out there, and I’d set up my tray with a close-up pad on it, and then I would do my thing for about three or four hours.” He also sported a sign while performing, with the words, “Help me get to MAGIC Live, Las Vegas,” emblazoned on it. He raised enough funds, including some spending money for the dealers’ room, in a few weeks.