Production costs for this program have been made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money by the vote of the people, November 4th, 2008, and the members of Lakeland PBS.

[Music] When it came down to where to host, once we as an organization had decided we were going to host and we were excited to host.

Minnesota was just it, we very naturally fell to Minnesota quite quickly.

We looked at the entire US.

Like we immediately knew our coasts were going to be too expensive, we were worried about mountainous areas having a lack of transportation into them, the South is really out of the question in the summertime due to the heat, so Midwest was really immediately obvious.

And then myself and my co-director being in Minnesota we're like if we're going to host we're going to host in Minnesota where we can get to it easily and that helps the planning process.

From there it really became well, we have a lot of options, what do we want to do.

We were both pretty determined to not host in the Twin Cities area, not because the Twin Cities isn't a great area to host an event like this, but when we've had Unicons in smaller communities there's a different feeling to them, they're really community based, and she and I have both had that like those are our preferred Unicons and if well if we're at the helm we get to decide what kind of Unicon it's going to be, so we wanted a small-town Unicon.

A lot of options came up.

St Cloud was an option for a while.

In the grand scheme, St Cloud was bigger than we really wanted, but we knew it had amenities we needed.

Same with Duluth, and it was actually my co-director that suggested Bemidji.

But having gone to school here, I was like, I know Bemidji will work and it started ticking all the boxes right away and then having my connections immediately it was like I knew how to start the conversation.

I knew this community and I knew that I could talk to the right people to get things sorted.

Bemidji was kind of an obvious answer because of its proximity to the Minneapolis airport, which it's 4 hours but you know a lot of places are a lot longer than that, and the community is small enough where they really care about this event.

If we were happening in Minneapolis we would just get drowned out, no one would even notice that there's a thousand unicyclists riding around their city in Minneapolis.

But in Bemidji we really take over the city and it's a really cool thing to happen.

[Music] It's been really interesting because nobody has really visited the northwoods of Minnesota before.

All my international friends this is very new to them, and it's exciting to see them be in the US and especially in a small town in the US.

Yeah, they've been really impressed with the events and I think that's due to all the event directors have been incredible at putting on all these amazing events, it wouldn't be possible without them and I think the riders really appreciate all the hard work that's gone into all these events.

I do think during some of the planning stages I was a little concerned I'm like "Oh my goodness are they going to like each other?"

It's like introducing two of your best friends to each other, like you love both of them and you are not going to give up one type thing, if they don't love each other that's their problem not yours type thing.

But it was my problem, it was my fear of like what if the unicyclists don't like Bemidji and what if Bemidji doesn't like my unicyclists.

Like these are my people, like these are two really big elements of my identity even, Bemidji and unicycling, so I was really scared.

I was really scared and then once it started going like the week before when unicyclists are starting to trickle in and we're doing the true like preparation, physical preparation work, everything clicked, everything clicked.

People were so excited, just you started to see Welcome Unicyclists on business signs and that was just mind-blowing to me.

I think Big River Scoop had a shirt they had made as a fundraiser.

I couldn't believe that a local shop had made a shirt for our event, just blew my mind.

I've gone to five, six other Unicons and I can't say I've seen that before, and maybe it happened and I just didn't see it but this blew my mind, and the community, the unicycle community was really blown away by how much it said we were welcomed into the community.

Sometimes there's maybe a sign on a door that says that has the Unicon poster on it but this was shops themselves saying Welcome Unicyclists like welcome to town type thing.

That was different and really exciting for us.

I think the participants, I think once they got here, I heard a lot of feedback of I can't believe how nice this town is.

One that really stands out to me was I thought we would be hanging out at a cabin in the woods and to this I got the impression they were from Europe somewhere.

Just of course when you're traveling 4 hours north of the Twin Cities area, what's out there to someone who hasn't ever studied Minnesota geography, I understand, why would there be anything there.

So they came, they saw, and they said "This is much better than we expected."

It was almost more metropolitan than they expected because it was so far away from a metropolitan area.

That one really sticks with me of we thought we were going to be in a cabin in the woods.

[Music] So the opening ceremony included a welcome speech from myself, usually the Unicon host gives some kind of welcome to everyone that's attending.

So I did a welcome speech with a land acknowledgement.

When we decided to host in Bemidji one of the first things I knew we had to do was a land acknowledgement and as per any Unicon it's our chance to highlight local culture and localisms essentially, things that are special to this area.

And right away I knew that the Ojibwe needed to be highlighted.

For some of us this is our first Unicon and for some of us we've been to a lot of them, but before we get too far into this Unicon it's really important that we take a moment and reflect, not just on past Unicons, but on the land that we have held them on.

Colonialism has greatly impacted these people, treaties made with the United States were often broken, and the Indigenous people continue to be impacted by that today.

They have suffered genocide at the hands of colonial ancestors.

It is just as true today as it was 100 years ago.

They continue to experience the impacts of the atrocities that their people went through.

We recognize the enduring presence and resilience.

So after the land acknowledgement I handed it over to a Ojibwe representative that was able to show us cultural elements and share it with the entire unicycle community that was there.

[Music] We had everyone from Europeans to Australians to a family from Ghana and Chile represented, so there an entire world audience, truly international audience for this cultural highlight.

After that we handed it over to Jamey Mossengren, he's a professional unicorn as he likes to call himself, the Unicycling Unicorn.

He has a street show that he performs at county fairs, state fairs, renaissance festivals, and so he gave us a taste of his show, and he's a very, very good performer.

He really knows how to engage with the audience both young and old, and I think that makes him a really a truly unique entertainer.

Jamey approached me quite a while before as Unicon was getting going that he wanted to make a world record attempt for the tallest ridable unicycle at 40 plus feet.

All right you get your foot on there.

I'm just going to try to get a feel for it.

Enjoy the view.

All right ready for this?

He arranged everything and he made I believe two or three attempts in front of the crowd.

While he did not make it in the opening ceremony time, he did make the record in practice and so he does now hold the Guinness Book of World Record for tallest ridable unicycle at 43 feet, 11.75 inches.

After Jamey did his world record attempt we went outside and we paraded from the Sanford Center down to the Paul and Babe statues at Visit Bemidji office.

And got a group photo and so kicked off Unicon 21.

[Music] You can see nearly every discipline of unicycling at Unicon, everything from team sports like basketball and hockey to freestyle unicycling, which is, like I said, the artistic side of unicycling with costume and routine and it's judged more on artistry than any other event.

50% of it is judged on artistry and the other 50% is on skills.

You'll also see a lot of urban events like what's going on behind me is street unicycling, it's akin to skateboarding where you're doing skills and tricks off of obstacles, grinding rails, doing flips off of them.

You'll also see flat land which is basically any skill done on flat ground, lots of rolls where people are rolling their unicycle while standing on cranks.

Spins which is spinning the unicycle below them and landing on it.

You'll also see a lot of distance events such as 10K, marathon.

Mountain unicycling is also a fan favorite as well.

It's typically done on a single track mountain bike trail with a big knobby tire and just going fast and going for speed.

I'd say there were three elements that were Bemidjified, maybe two a little bit more related to when we have our North American Unicycle Convention and Championship.

NAUCC it's our national event but since it's North American it's US, Canada primarily.

I think we've had a couple participants from Mexico but it is primarily US and Canada.

Two events that we like to hold at that event is the Criterium and Flaming Puck Hockey.

And so us getting the chance to host , those are two staple events in our national and that's our chance to highlight these staple events.

So Flaming Puck Hockey that's first of all that's a super Minnesotan thing, well hockey is a Minnesotan thing.

We're in Bemidji, a hockey town, and then we just have to put our own flare on it, it's a literal flare on it.

So that's something we were really we wanted to do but knew that it could be tough to pull off and so we were all hoping, we were all ready for it to not pass but I'm really, really glad we were able to work with the fire department because that event itself is one of the highlights to me in Unicon, the entire Unicon in Bemidji.

The Criterion was a fun event, it's a chance for us to just do a circuit event, a road event, that isn't as endurance-based but sprint and agility based.

And then the event that's really Bemidji based was the Loop the Lake event.

In the past we usually host a 10k and a marathon and looking at possible marathon routes I really knew right away that I didn't want to do a marathon.

I know we could follow the Blue Ox Marathon route like it's more than set up, more than established, but the Loop the Lake route is really just handed to us on a silver platter, so it gave us this chance to go around the lake.

And then since the marathon is more length than 16 miles, we really wanted a chance to still push those endurance athletes that want more than 16 miles so we said we'll go around twice.

With the help of the Sanford Center we were able to put out an economic survey, an economic impact survey.

I do know the Sanford Center has those results but it was a bigger economic impact than I could have expected, somewhere more than half a million dollars in terms of economic impact into Bemidji.

To your point about Unicon kind of feeling like a party, I think that's why all of us continue to come back, it does feel like this party for like for two weeks.

It's a family reunion, a friends reunion so to speak, but we get together for 2 weeks with a purpose, with activities planned, and it's a set destination.

It's sponsored, it's organized but there's also enough fluid space for you to do your own thing, that it really is this like get together.

I was speaking to someone today about Unicon as well and they said "These were my people."

We're not as stiff and upper lipped as maybe other activities can be.

Like when you get into truly, truly, truly elite level where it's like "No, I am focused, I have tunnel vision," that type of thing.

We still have elite athletes who will have some tunnel vision but in the grand scheme once they're done they go "Hey, I had fun."

And that's where everyone still comes back to, we are here together as a community to have fun first and foremost.

We'll compete when we feel like it.

Unicon is so important to me because of the people here.

It's so important to put on an event and pour your heart and soul into something in order to make the community stronger and better.

If nobody poured their labor into an event like this it simply wouldn't happen.

I have the mindset of if you see something that needs to be done you're the person that needs to do it.

So when I saw this position available, I knew I was a perfect fit, so I couldn't say no, and I just love each person here so, so much, they truly feel like my second family.

Yeah and I actually was diagnosed with cancer about a year and a half ago.

I lost my job and being a part of the unicycling community was so, so special.

I've just never felt so loved and being able to pour myself into an event was really, really what I needed to get through cancer and being here with everyone is so, so, so special.

Yeah my best friends are here, they feel like family and I would do anything for them, even if it means working for 2 years unpaid to put on this event, I would do that for them in a heartbeat and I would do it again.

When we are in a small town we get to have this feeling of takeover, but not in a rude way of course, but in this you go out and anywhere you go out you're going to see another unicyclist.

I have this photo from the last evening and the party had moved on to Keg and Cork and there's that little entryway and there's about 25 unicycles stacked up in that entryway and you're not going to see that in bigger places where they're going to spread out to 20 different venues.

So in this one venue you've got 20 plus unicycles just stacked in that little entryway and this meaning that we're all going to the same places that you can go to the one location you know you're going to run into unicyclists there.

That was what I think made it, makes smaller Unicons, smaller town Unicons, more special.

That's what I love about a Unicon is that community feeling where it's not just we're in this nice community but where our community gets integrated right away.

Unicycling is a great sport for bringing people together and it's been exciting in my lifetime to see.

My first Unicon was Unicon 3 in 1987 in Tokyo, Japan, and there was, I believe, there was less than 100 international riders there from only eight countries.

And now to see it here in Bemidji, you know, with I think 27 or 29 countries represented and almost a thousand participants.

The sport is growing and continues to grow and you know but as it grows, you know, even now it's still the camaraderie is the same.

You know people make lifelong friends at these conventions and even if you haven't been around for many years and you come back you still see people that you know from before and they're there to welcome you and you just catch up from all the things you're doing.

But, you know, even along the way you know many people continue to share all that they're doing and new developments in unicycling and you know all the new tricks and things that are happening.

And it's like there's unicycle forums online that people keep engaged in and people are engaged through YouTube and things and so it's just there are many different ways that the sport is continuing to grow and people continue to share with others around them.

Every single Unicon I just feel so inspired to ride my unicycle more and it's really about the community for me.

Like I love unicycling but I love the people here much much more, they feel like a family to me.

And years and years will go by without seeing everyone and it feels like days have passed, so it's a really really special community and that's what makes unicycling and Unicon so great and that's the reason I keep coming back.

I think the easiest way to start unicycling is to know someone that unicycles, and I understand not a lot of people are going to know someone that unicycles like that's not a common thing, but there's a lot of forums, particularly on Facebook, there's unicycle chat, there's a lot of unicycle forums that are on other platforms as well.

There's a lot of sites dedicated to this as well.

There's unicycle.com, you could go to the Unicycling Society of America, the International Unicycling Federation, all of them have their own version of how to start unicycling.

I would say one of the easiest ones, especially with video help is on YouTube.

Christian Huriwai, he's done some very good beginner unicycle ones, he's a New Zealand rider who has a world title and he is one of the nicest humans you can meet.

A lot of unicyclists are the nicest humans you can meet, but Christian has gone through some serious work of putting together a full tutorial on how to get started.

He has that Austral that, excuse me, that New Zealand accent, so it just adds to the experience, but he shows you how to do it and he shows you how to get on and like what you're looking for and all that, so I recommend Christian Huriwai on YouTube.

I would say just do it.

The only way to learn how to unicycle is to try it.

They say it takes about 10 hours of practice and you can't find a more welcoming community than the unicycling community.

So no matter your skill level you'll always have a place in the unicycle community.

I know lots of people who come as significant others to unicyclists and they fit right in even though they don't unicycle.

People who are just learning to ride, people who have been riding for years and years, always have a place at Unicon somehow, some way, and it's really special to see that.

So just get involved any way you can.

Volunteering is a great way to do that.

Being a part of the unicycling community online, since everyone's so spread out, is a great way to meet people and then coming to Unicon, meeting them in person, is also an excellent way to form that community.

Now I think on behalf of the unicycle community we want to thank Bemidji.

Now that it's over and passed it feels like a pipe dream or it feels like a fever dream that it happened, but I think all the unicyclists are really happy that Bemidji had its chance in the spotlight.

And something that I didn't realize until Unicon was in full swing is that Bemidji is written in stone in the unicycling community now.

Bemidji will not fall off the map to the unicycle community and that is something truly special.

[Music] And for this week's Northwoods Experience the Unicycling Unicorn attempts to break a world record at Unicon 21.

Unicycling brought me here today.

I've been a part of the unicycle community for like 23 years.

I've always wanted to go to Unicon for years and years.

I started riding 12 years ago and this is my first ever Unicon competition.

Unicycling it's awesome.

Even with all of these events going on what people have said they're most excited for is to meet other unicyclists from all around the world.

Production costs for this program have been made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008, and the members of Lakeland PBS.