All anyone wanted to talk to Mark Hayward about Sunday was his re-creation of writer William Burroughs' trick where he tried to shoot a highball glass off his wife's head in 1951 and accidentally killed her.

Hayward, in his "William Tell" routine at the 47th Annual MadFest Juggling Extravaganza Saturday night, however, used a volunteer and a Nerf gun.

"Safety first," he told a small girl who came up to him Sunday at the juggling festival that surrounded Saturday's event and told him the trick scared her.

The three-day festival brought together jugglers from across the Midwest as well as other parts of the country.

The Saturday event drew about 1,100 people, almost selling out Wisconsin Union Theater.

Those who haven't seen the show think it's only for small children "or that it's just going to be flat-out stupid," Hayward said.

"But whenever I can get those people to actually come, they are floored by the high quality of the acts," said Hayward, 39, who served as emcee.

Madison is more of a juggling town than most, said Hayward, who grew up in Madison and now lives in Pittsburgh.