Portland and Seattle area sign spinners will compete in upcoming World Championship

Martin Kay

The Advocate

As everything else is slowing down for the holidays – people are visiting with friends and family, and eating a few extra desserts – a unique group of athletes is preparing for their annual world championship, where they will use complex dance routines, gymnastics, and a variety of signature moves designed to fascinate and command your attention.

This January, more than 100 professional sign spinners, who have previously qualified from a group of over 2,000, will compete at the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, in an intense three-day tournament to find out who is the best sign spinner in the world.

With more than 25 individual markets throughout the country represented, plus several international markets in Germany, Korea, Australia, Mexico, Panama, and Peru, there is no telling what spectators will see: backflips, costumes, elaborately choreographed dance routines, and sometimes even magic tricks.

Throughout the year, the employees of AArrow Sign Spinners are logging in thousands of practices, performing moves they learn through group clinics and videos they share on an app which they all use to clock in/out of work, track their pay and sign up for shifts. They even have their own secret Facebook groups where they often have spinner battles, like a deleted scene in one of the “Bring it On” movies.

The event itself is a celebration for everyone, but a few performers will be highlighted on the final stage in Vegas where they can win thousands of dollars in prize money and some other rewards that come with being the best in the world.

Former champions have earned the opportunity to appear in national commercial campaigns, on television shows, and even in a few movies.

Notable spinners this year include Davis Davis, general manager for AArrow in California; Evan Vaughan, formerly a Portland spinner now located in Tennessee; four-time champion Kadeem Johnson, spinning out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; former champion Jacob Mitchell from Denver; Tyler Cartwright from Atlanta; and Alex Kleible, who is traveling from Germany.

Some spinners from Portland and Seattle markets that may be competing include TJ Sims, Chance Jordan, and Tylor Gwin. All competitors mentioned have either won the competition outright or placed in the top ten spaces consistently over the last five years competing in the World Sign Spinning Championship.

After making some bold claims, Davis Davis had a challenging time in his market’s regional competition this year, barely squeaking by to finals and earning a spot in Vegas.

Matthew Doolan, one-time world champion, manages the Dallas-Fort Worth AArrow market.

Bay Area spinner Larry Fuller stars in a feature-length film about legendary sign-spinner, Izzy Lyon, who invented the helicopter technique and changed the sign-spinning world forever.