THE BALLOON MAN

Magic Mike thrills at the fair

Tristan Chavis, 14, of Pembroke, right, loses his head over the magic performed by Magic Mike at the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair on Friday. Staff photo by Bob Shiles

by Bob Shiles, Staff Writer The Robesonian
LUMBERTON — Mike Winters, better known as Magic Mike, will never be without cash. Just a twist of his wrist and he’s turned a handful of one dollar bills into several one-hundred dollar bills.
“I love to do this money trick up close to people and watch their expressions,” Mike said after his performance Friday at the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair. “I especially like to watch the women. Their faces just light up. You know how much they just want to spend that money.”
Magic Mike, who has performed magic tricks for about 33 years — 21 of those years as a professional full-time magician — has mesmerized audiences at the fair for the past four years. As he has done for the past three years, he plans to take his show into eight of the county’s elementary schools during the coming week.
Mike was 21 when he started doing magic as a hobby. In just two years he had his own magic show on public television in his hometown of Rockford, Ill. The show lasted for six years.
“I first became interested in magic when a friend showed me a card trick and then wouldn’t tell me how he did it,” Mike said. “I then learned a trick and wouldn’t tell him how I did it until he told me how he did his trick.”
Mike said that when he started performing magic, he was working as a computer room supervisor for a hardware company. When he began his hobby he just did card tricks. Although he has expanded into other areas, he said card tricks are still his favorite.
“I love learning new card tricks,” he said. “I have a library of about 500 magic books, about three-quarters of those containing card tricks.”
While he can’t get enough magic, Mike said neither of his children — a daughter Kelly who is an elementary school art teacher and his son Mike who is a banker — nor his wife Kim, a nurse, do any magic.
“I think they had enough when they had to watch and help me practice my tricks,” he said.
Mike estimates that he does about 400 shows a year, not including all the tricks he performs when he just walks up to people.
“I like doing both stage shows and close-ups with people,” he said. “But I think if I had to make a choice between the two, I would choose to do magic close up to people.”
Traveling is a big part of Mike’s life, but he says he doesn’t mind — at least most of the time. In just the past month, he has traveled from Texas to Kentucky to Robeson County. After the fair ends next week, he heads to Philadelphia and then to Montana.
“I like variety,” he said. “I like performing in different areas and enjoy meeting all kinds of different people.”
The audience for Mike’s 5:30 p.m. Friday show was small, but appeared to enjoy the performance. It was the only stage show he performed Friday.
Although gates opened at 4 p.m., it was not until around 5:30 that large groups of people began arriving at the fairgrounds. Coble Wilson, a fair organizer, said Thursday that because of better weather he expected a crowd of between 8,000 and 10,000 to visit the fair on Friday.