Win $200 at Baltimore Hoop Love's upcoming hula hooping contest

Bringing kinetic fun and engagement to kids of all ages, Baltimore Hoop Love is hula hooping around Baltimore City and beyond.

The group was founded in 2010 by Jes Raschella and Andreas "Spilly" Spiliadis, who holds a Guinness World Record for his hula hooping skills. The duo spreads positive energy while performing entertaining tricks, including Spilly's signature move of balancing stacks of hula hoops on his nose while hula hooping around his waist and doing other tricks.

"Hula hooping is a fun activity that brings out the kid in any of us," says Raschella. "Our favorite part of our performance is inviting the audience to become part of the spectacle, inviting families to hula hoop with us. "That's the real gem of Baltimore Hoop Love."

Performances are not just limited to hula hooping. They also include stilt walkers, caricature artists, jugglers, and more.

Baltimore Hoop Love also works with performers in the community, such as jugglers, unicyclists, balloon artists, and face painters. Together, they offer a wide range of entertainment events, like a specialized Hula Hoop Beatbox Combo show.

Fans can find the group Sunday mornings at the Baltimore Farmers Market and Bazaar, under the Jones Falls Expressway, where they regularly have a hula hooping and caricature booth.

As part of Free Fall Baltimore, an initiative from Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, the organization will host a special hula hoop contest, where contestants can compete for $200 in cash prizes. The contest will be held Sunday, Oct. 30, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Baltimore Farmers Market.

"The contest will go for longevity, but with some added in activities and challenges like walking or hopping while hula hooping to encourage elimination and decide a winner," Raschella says.

The contest will have musical accompaniment by Max Bent and Jamaal Collier, known as the Beatbox Dads.

For more information, email [email protected].

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Latrice Hill is a Baltimore native and Morgan State University graduate who loves all the great things this city has to offer. She worked with WMAR 2-News as an Assignment Desk Editor before she joined... More by Latrice Hill