History of the Swiss Juggling Conventions

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The first Swiss Juggling Convention was held in Bern in June 1987. After participating at the 9th European Juggling Convention in Castellar della Frontiera, in Span, Bruno Saxer, his sister Gerda Saxer and three friends Peter Marti, Rita Siegfried and Usrula Schori decided to organise such a great event in Switzerland.

1st Swiss convention (See some photos): Bern, July 1987
about 200 participants,
Main organisers : Bruno Saxer, Gerda Saxer, Peter Marti, Rita Siegfried, Ursula Schori

2nd Swiss convention : Bern, 25-26 June 1988
about 250 participants,
Main organisers : Bruno Saxer, Gerda Saxer, Peter Marti, Rita Siegfried, Ana Bähler

3rd Swiss convention : Geneva, 17-18 June 1989
about 250 participants.
Main organisers : Bernard Gisin and Cesar Salvadori
See their web page : http://www.juggling.ch/geneve

4th Swiss convention : Zug, 16-17 June 1990
about 300 participants.
Main organisers : Marlies Rüttimann, Werner Hürlimann, Kim Walker, Viktor Dittli, Karin Zehnder Dittli, Marika Farkas

5th Swiss convention : Arbon, 22-23 June 1991
about 300 participants.
Main organisers : Res Ryser , Felix Hinniger , Sabine Hunkeler
See their web page : http://www.tele-net.ch/ary/jonglier

6th Swiss convention : Zürich, 3-5 July 1992
about 350 participants.
Main organisers : Gabi Schmutz, Henry Camus
See their web page : http://www.fullhouse.ch

7th Swiss convention : Aarau, 26-27 June 1993
about 300 participants.
Main organisers : Werner Rohr and Brigitte Geisseler

8th Swiss convention (See some photos): Dietlikon, 10-12 June 1994
about 400 participants.
Main organisers : Bea Marty and Piet Blanken

9th Swiss convention : Geneva, 17/18 June 1995
about 250 participants.
Main organisers : Bernard Gisin, with the help of the Geneva Juggling Club.
See their web page : http://www.juggling.ch/geneve

10th Swiss convention : Arosa, 4-7 July 1996
about 450 participants.
Main organisers : Thömu Leuernberger, Claude Criblez, Bea Marty, Piet Blanken

11th Swiss convention : Oerlikon, 20-22 June 1997
about 250 participants.
Main organisers : Florian Meier, Silvio Hartmann

12th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : La Chaux-de-Fonds, 3-5 July 1998
about 250 participants.
Main organiser : Roman Winiger
Old announcement of this convention

13th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Olten 11-13 June 1999
about 200 participants.
Main organisers : Didi Marty, Felix + Sabine Hunkeler Hinniger, Bix Meister, Roland von Däniken, Adi Heutschi
Old announcement of this convention

14th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Bellinzona 8-9 July 2000
about 150 participants.
Main organisers : Tonatiuh Ambrosetti, Liza Togni, Sara, Daniela, Gianni, Patrizio, Olmo, Nico, David.
Old announcement of this convention

15th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Neuchâtel 22-24th June 2001
about 400 participants counted at the public show.
Main organisers : Manuel Gomez, Perrine Hibon, Roman Winiger, Eva Roos, Leila Kébir
Old announcement of this convention

16th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Bern 28-30th June 2002
about 400 participants.
Main organisers : Heinz Schär, Bruno Saxer, and others ...
Old announcement of this convention

17th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Busswill bei Büren 27-29th June 2003
about 200 participants.
Main organiser : Walter Hachen
Old announcement of this convention

18th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Dietlikon 25-27th June 2004
about 250 participants. 400 at the public show.
Main organisers : Luzia Hartmann, Rolf Hartmann, Silvio Hartmann, Florian Meier, Urs Frey.
Their e-mail : festival2004 @ smartballs . ch   (cancel the spaces around the @ and the . )
Old announcement of this convention or http://festival.smartballs.ch
See their web page : http://jonglierverein.smartballs.ch/english/home.shtml

19th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Basel 17-19th June 2005
about 300 participants. 400 at the public show. To be confirmed by the organisers.
Main organisers : Hannes Flück, Pascal Häring, Luzia Koller, Karin Brodbeck, Irmgard Buehler, Pierre-Alain Niklaus, Kaspar Sutter.
Their e-mail : jonglierfestival-basel @ yahoo . com   (cancel the spaces around the @ and the . )
Old announcement of this convention or http://mypage.bluewin.ch/Jonglierfestival05/

20th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Sierre 16-18th June 2006
about 300 participants. 250 at the public show.
Main organisers : Sébastien Mullen (mullenst @ netplus. ch), Philippe Bonvin (philippe_bonvin @ hotmail. com),
Alain Kipel (Alainki @ yahoo. com), Michel Wyss (micwys@hotmail.com), Philippe Ballestraz (philippe.ballestraz @ students.hepvs. ch)
(cancel the spaces around the @ and the . )
Old announcement of this convention

21th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Einsiedeln (Kanton Schwyz) 15-17th June 2007
about 300 participants. ??? at the public show.
Main organisers : Christian Ziegler and other I don't know...
Old announcement of this convention

22th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Winterthur 15-17th August 2008
about 300 participants. ??? at the public show.
Main organisers : See the OK TEAM
Old announcement of this convention

23th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : La Chaux-de-Fonds 12-14th June 2009
about 250 participants. ??? at the public show.
Main organisers : Roman Winiger, Manuel Gomez, and others I don't know...
Old announcement of this convention

24th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Frick 4-6th June 2010
about 140 participants. 190 at the public show.
Main organisers : Fabian and Regula Hossli.
Old announcement of this convention

25th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Geneva 8-10th July 2011
about 150 participants. 300 at the public show.
Main organisers : Alex Rosso and the Geneva Juggling Club.
Old announcement of this convention
See their web page : http://www.juggling.ch/geneve

26th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Wetzikon 31 August-2nd September 2012
between 200 and 300 participants. 400 at the public show.
Main organisers : Heiko Murbach.
Old announcement of this convention

27th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Aarau Rohr 7-9th of June 2013
about 150 participants and 300 at the public show.
Main organisers : Marc, Eric, Fabian, Regula and Gino.
Old announcement of this convention

28th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Lausanne 5-7th of September 2014
about 200 participants and 500 at the public show.
Main organisers : Shirine Daouk, Pavel Fürst et Nikolay Tagantsev.
Old announcement of this convention

29th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Cevio 25-27th of September 2015
about 150 participants and 250 at the public show.
Main organisers : Sabine Rauber and Massimiliano Ciavarella.
Old announcement of this convention

30th Swiss convention (Resume + photos) : Uster 2-4th of September 2016
about 350 participants from which 100 young from circus schools and 500 at the public show.
Main organisers : Kaspar Wohnlich , Blanca Böll, Marc Hangartner, Christian Helbling and Marian Bonato.
Old announcement of this convention

31 Swiss convention (Resume) : Frick 8-10th September 2017
about 150 participants. 250 at the public show.
Main organisers : Fabian and Regula Hossli and Blanca Böll.
Old announcement of this convention

32 Swiss convention (Resume) : Lucern 21-23rd September 2018
about 150 participants. 150 at the public show.
Main organisers : Heinz Schmied, Rahel Weiest, Ursina Weber, Nik Meier and David Hürlimann.
Old announcement of this convention

33 Swiss convention (Resume) : Lichtensteig 23-25th August 2019
about 150 participants (some came only for a few hours). 100 at the public show.
Main organisers : Mirco Kranjc and Jaime Loughi.
Old announcement of this convention

34 Swiss convention (Resume) : Plan-les-Ouates in Geneva 2-3rd October 2021
about 200 participants. A bit more than 200 at the public show.
Main organisers : Christelle Gaignant and Déborah Magat.
Old announcement of this convention

35 Swiss convention (Resume) : Basel 2-3 juillet 2022
I was not present, so I have juste a few information.
About 30 participants. It was a small and simple convention, but the participants enjoyed it.
Main organisers : Jan Erasmus Heinemann et Simon Schneeberger.
Old announcement of this convention

36 Swiss convention (Resume) : Schwellenmätteli in Bern 1-2nd July 2023
about 250 participants. About 350 at the public show.
Main organisers : Michele Zehnder, Steeve Böhm, Dominique Britschnau, Maurice Favre, Donat Hess, Michael Schmid, Can Sahin.
Old announcement of this convention

37 Swiss convention (Resume) : Eulachpark in Winterthur 30 of August to 1rst of September 2024
about 350 participants. About 450 at the public show and 300 at the fire show.
Main organisers : Simon Monai, Dominique Druey, Herbert (Herbi) Burren, Christof Haller, Ruth Fischer, Peter Oertle, Tobias Meier, Reto Baliarda, Florian Tinner, Werner Schüpbach, Kaspar Wohnlich, Christian Helbling.
The Organiser's Team
Old announcement of this convention


Other mini but beautiful conventions took place in Switzerland.

1st Solothurn convention : Solothurn. It was one Sunday in 1991 
It was a beautiful one day convention with about 80 participants.
Main organiser : Franz Brandl

1st Swiss Central Convention : Hitzkirch (Luzern), March 1995
About 100 participants.
Main organiser : Marcel Bienz

2nd Swiss Central Convention (Resume + photos) : Hitzkirch (Luzern), 19-20 of September 1998
About 100 participants.
Main organiser : Marcel Bienz
Old announcement of this convention

Swiss mini convention in Geneva (Resume + photos) : Chêne-Bourg (Geneva), 17-18 of March 2007
About 90 participants.
Main organiser : Alex Rosso, Bernard Gisin and the juggling club of Geneva
Old announcement of this convention

Second Swiss mini convention in Geneva (Resume + photos) : Chêne-Bourg (Geneva), 20-21 of April 2013
About 40 participants.
Main organiser : the juggling club of Geneva
Old announcement of this convention

Other conventions with photos.

1st Inzlingen Dreiländer-eck Juggling convention : Inzlingern (Germany) 25 of June to 27 of June 1999.
About 150 participants, nice place and a very nice public show.

Yo-Yo Masters 99 : A yo-yo convention in Zurich the 28 of November 1999.
Old announcement in German.No photos are available yet.


Many information are incomplete or may be wrong.
If you have more information to put here, please send it to  Bernard Gisin.

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Last update done the 3rd of October 2024 by Bernard Gisin.     ( Send an e-mail )
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