ALLENTOWN, Pa. — How high did the Flippenout Extreme Trampoline performers spring during their outdoor show at the Great Allentown Fair on Thursday?
Here’s how one onlooker gauged it:
“I haven’t been that high since the Dead show at the Capitol Theater in New York in ’71,” said Terry Burkhart, 76, of Allentown with a laugh. “Those boys really get up there.”
To be blunt, Brent Steffensen, 44, and James Johnson, 33, were unbelievably high.
For 25 minutes, they alternated entertaining the large gathering outside the Agri-Plex by performing a series of twists, bounces and somersaults some 20 feet in the air on a large rectangular trampoline.
Folks were particularly entertained when Steffensen performed front and backflips and spins while on a snowboard, an activity he became expert at as a boy on the snow slopes of his native Utah.
“People love to watch because of what we can do and also because they realize it’s something they can’t do."Brent Steffensen, Flippenout trampoline performer
“People love to watch because of what we can do and also because they realize it’s something they can’t do,” said Steffensen, who competed on the TV show, “American Ninja Warrior,” winning the physically challenging obstacle course event in Season 4.
“This is our second year here. The people here at the Allentown Fair are great.”
Unlike Steffensen, who has been performing on a trampoline for 24 years, Johnson did not engage in trampoline and gymnastics events while growing up.
“I played baseball, basketball and football growing up in Missouri,” Johnson said. “I didn’t get into this kind of stuff till later.”
The duo incorporated Johnson’s ball-playing past into a trampoline routine, with Steffenson throwing small rubber balls from off the trampoline and Johnson catching them while doing front and back somersaults.
How dangerous are the high-flying somersaults and other routines each performs?
Johnson said he’s never been hurt on the trampoline.
Steffensen on the other hand …
“I’ve fallen off the trampoline three times,” he said. “One time, I cracked my head open.”
An occupational hazard.
Flippenout trampolinists have performed at a variety of venues, including NFL games, NBA courts, parades, parking lots, fairs and carnivals.
Steffensen and Johnson will be performing three times each day through the last day of the fair on Monday, Sept. 2.
But for how much longer, especially for the mid-40-ish Steffensen?
“I plan to do it for as long as my body allows me to do it,” he said. “I just love it. I love watching the people enjoying how high we can go.”
And, to paraphrase a line from an old song by Sly and the Family Stone: “They want to take you higher.”
