‘Having this career is like a Hallmark movie’: How Portland entertainer Spencer Sprocket turned juggling, magic and comedy into his dream job

Published 4:00 am Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Spencer Sprocket is far from just a juggler; he’s an entertainer.

One might even call him an “entertainer extraordinaire,” or at least his website does — you’ve got to sell yourself somehow, and that he does.

Maybe you’ve seen him zooming through the Oregon Zoo during its annual Zoolights event, dressed from head-to-toe in glowing gear, juggling clubs while weaving through the crowd.

Sprocket is a full-time entertainer whose life of juggling, comedy, magic and more started with a pick-me-up job as a summer camp counselor in Portland after being laid off from his plumbing job.

“I try to go slow, engage with the audience and have fun. Those are my three rules for success and performing,” he said. “If I can do all three of those, then it’s always a good show.”

So long as Sprocket follows his three gold rules and has his “suitcase full of fun” in hand, then it’s bound to be a good time.

Since 2019, Sprocket has been a full-time entertainer, working gigs throughout the city, building a local celebrity reputation for himself and children and families recognized him out and about. He’ll surely flash a funny face or a quick sleight of hand to say hello.

The first years of his life were spent in Portland proper before moving to Tualatin, but his mom made sure their family experienced more than just the ‘burbs. They’d explore the Portland Saturday Market, making their way into quirky spots like Hippo Hardware & Trading Co., and taking detours for lunch at Hung Far Low in Old Town.

Once he turned 18, he was headed right back to city life.

“I think I’ve lived in just about every single quadrant (of Portland),” Sprocket said.

He often bounces around the city, living with different artists and performers.

Their casual Tuesdays look like performing juggling tricks in the backyard and seeing who can do it best.

Sprocket’s sport of choice wasn’t always flipping clubs while riding a hoverboard — he used to play basketball and soccer, which he remembers being bad at. Ironically, his kryptonite was coordination.

Much of his childhood was filled with playing in creeks, forests and ponds, riding his bike and making the most of a multi-acre property. Their family always had boxers — the dog breed they fostered frequently — and had about 170 of the pups cycle through their home over about eight years.

“That’s definitely where I get a lot of my personality was being raised by boxers,” he said. “It’s such chaos. At any point in time when I was a kid, if I was bored, I wanted to play.”

Beyond the short-haired breed, they had horses, chickens and goats on the property.

Their yard was a paintball field. Then, it was a baseball field. There was no shortage of fun.

His dad liked to follow the message of the movie “Field of Dreams,” he said: “If you build it, they will come.”

Sprocket left the Rose City for a couple of years to join the Boulder Circus Center in Colorado. He’d teach kids after school about the circus, while performing for events like raves. On stage he’d juggle, dance to music, whatever called for entertainment.

But before he left, he’d started working for Portland Parks & Recreation as a summer camp counselor. It’s what made him return because he was offered a role as the summer camp coordinator.

“Basically, my job would be to make sure all the camps are having fun,” he remembers thinking. “ It was like, not only do I get to have fun, but now I get to inspire other people to have fun.”

Sprocket worked in a barn growing up, then in sales at Sharper Image and Radio Shack, and then as a plumber, among other roles, before joining PP&R in 2011.

“I didn’t believe in what I was selling,” he said of his past gigs.

Though the “seven-step theory” he learned in sales did just the trick once he became a summer camp counselor. All he had to do was sell the kids on why they needed to do each activity.

“If they’re excited to do something, then they’re gonna have a good day and that’s gonna be good for all of us,” he said.

Funnily enough, his tricks and skills came with this new job, too. Here, he started learning how to do magic, juggle and more. All day long, the counselors would preach to the children, telling them they could do whatever they wanted to do, so Sprocket took the same advice.

He learned to juggle for the job.

Sprocket continued climbing the corporate ladder, but didn’t love what he found at the top. Much of his days spent playing and entertaining were inundated with emails and sitting at a desk.

“I got to go back to summer camp,” he thought.

But a demotion wasn’t in the cards — he said he was told it wasn’t allowed.

“It was almost like a midlife crisis in a way,” Sprocket said, despite only being in his 20s at the time.

The internal conflict of leaving his job resulted in visits to a psychiatrist. Something needed to change, but he wasn’t sure how to make that change happen until he was asked: How would you feel if you quit your job tomorrow?

Relief rushed through his body just at the thought.

“What would you do instead?” the psychiatrist asked him.

“I’d entertain people full time,” Sprocket said — birthday parties, events, juggling, magic, the whole shebang.

Despite the slight chuckle his psychiatrist let out, they decided it was time to pursue his dream of being a full-time entertainer.

By now, he’s performed for tens of thousands of people.

“Having this career is like a Hallmark movie, almost,” he said, dubbing the fictional title, “The Portland Clown Who Made It.”

Find more at spencersprocket.com and on his Instagram.