Magician Diego Lopez floating above the stage at the end of his performance at the Bancroft Legion March 24. / JAKE STOREY Student reporter

By Jake Storey 

Bancroftians packed the Legion for a chance to see magician Diego Lopez last week.

The show was held by Bancroft Community Transit March 24 to fundraise for youth transportation — non-emergency transportation for youth to attend activities after school and on weekends both accessible and non-accessible, according to BCT's website.

Every available seat was filled. Children sat at the front of the room on mats just a few metres away from the stage.

BCT's director of operations Gwen Coish said, “We are so happy with the turnout. We must have sold over a hundred tickets.”

Originally from Nicaragua and living in Ottawa, Lopez has been practising magic since he was a young child and has over 25 years of experience. Throughout the evening he blended comedy and magic, sharing a few anecdotes between tricks. His performance was a hit with the audience. Lopez created numerous illusions including levitation, card tricks, disappearing objects, swallowing balloons and more. He would fake-out the audience, intentionally failing a trick or performing a very obvious or unimpressive feat for a laugh. Then he proceeded to quickly turn it around, completing a successful trick immediately afterward. At one point he failed to produce a card signed by an audience member, only to pull it out of his mouth moments later.

Lopez also brought audience members, usually children, on stage to perform with him.

“I was blown away by the turnout,” said Lopez. “It's really heartwarming to see this many people here, in weather like this.”

At the end of the night, several audience members asked Lopez if he'd be performing in the area again at some point. That's yet to be determined.