Pay close attention, and you might—or might not—have seen the telltale signs of just how each trick was done by the Amazing Hondo at the Strawberry Fest Family Night June 15. We say “might not” because it was a little of both, with some illusions explained, only to be followed by others left unexplained. Case in point: the “fake egg” with a hole in it that was later cracked over a glass and shown to be quite real.

Maybe.

At any rate, and delighting the crowd on Family Night Thursday, June 15 at Strawberry Fest, the Amazing Hondo wowed event goers, performing tricks from the band stage that included driving a long and sharp needle straight through a balloon, guessing numbers, and calling someone’s voicemail to learn a card pick—seemingly in their own voice.

That last one was explained, just for clarity.

Starting the show off at 6 p.m. and performing for around an hour on stage as sponsored by Graphic Resources, the Amazing Hondo started with a simple trick, using what appeared to be a single pipe with thread to show the way that assumptions can play into making illusion. The pipe was in fact two pieces, while the strings connected in ways that didn’t seem possible, or else to multiple sources.

“I gave a show once for an engineering company,” Hondo said. “And I heard one guy say to another, ‘he’s using invisible thread.’”

Not quite, but still mysterious. Using humor, illusion, and the science of probability while playing up Strawberry Fest, the Amazing Hondo added seemingly random numbers to make the sum 61,523 (also 6-15-23, the day of Family Night) along with other tricks. Among the best of the night, though?

Tearing up and putting back together a Cottage Grove Journal—maybe.

“This is an illusion,” he said as he appeared to tear the paper in half multiple times. “I’m not really tearing it.”

That said, it was a convincing performance, even when revealed that the multiple tears were in fact folds and that the paper itself was still in one piece. How’d he do that?