Word of the day: Juxtaposition (not to be confused with JuxtaPercussion, one of the day's winning acts).

That word, more than anything else, came to mind during Boise's first Curb Cup, a street circus extravaganza in Downtown Boise Sunday afternoon.

A man on stilts, his head buzzed with a leopard skin crew cut, his back a swirl of tattoos, shared space near the Grove fountain with hula-hoopers and Lilliputian street dancers. 

The band Beltane crooned a decidedly alternative version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," next to a pack of heated salsa dancers. 

The best juxtaposition of the day may have been on a rare, shady stretch of Main Street, where the "Red Racer" - a youngster with a wooden ramp and a scooter, performed cheek to jowl with The Red Light Variety Show, a sexy pack of burlesque folk with a stripper pole and many things on fire. 

BoDo developer Mark Rivers, the man behind the Curb Cup, said he had no idea so many people would show up for the free street circus. 

Police had to help out with traffic control, closing streets when they saw the size of the crowd.  

"If we have lightning in a bottle, we'll plan for it next year. Maybe this is Boise's new River Festival," Rivers said, referencing the defunct blow-out that was once a Boise summer standard and went bankrupt in 2003.  

Attendees cast votes for their favorite acts by dropping wooden tokens into the cups of musicians, jugglers, jewelers and dancers. So many people voted, organizers ran out of tokens before the competition ended. At the end of the event, tokens and the slips of marked paper that were substituted after the tokens ran out were counted to determine the winner.

Top prize of the day went to the Dragon Karate Team, purveyors of breathtaking Jackie Chan moves.

Summerwind Skippers, kids who fling the meanest jump ropes in town, took home $500.

But everyone in the crowd had his or her favorite acts. For Boise tattoo artist Jacob Coho, the day belonged to the Buzz On Yo Yo Experience - unflappable, trick yo-yo experts in matching red bowling shirts. 

"I consider myself a yo-yo intern," Coho said. "I've been learning to yo-yo for the last eight months. These guys can do things with yo-yos you never could have imagined." 

Anne Webb, 377-6431; Kathleen Kreller, 377-6418