PHOENIX - You see them all over the Valley. They're the young men and women spinning advertisement signs on street corners. Many using creative dances and tricks to grab passerby attention.
“In order to become a professional sign spinner. it takes a lot of hard work and endurance,” said Jarrod Ray, the general manager for Aarrow Sign Spinners in Phoenix.
Ray and two of his employees are competing in the World Sign Spinners Competition in Las Vegas Friday and Saturday.
Spinning signs is a lot harder than it looks. Each advertisement sign is shaped like a 6-foot-long arrow and weighs about 5 pounds.
“People don't realize it takes hours upon hours learning how to do one simple move,” said Chase Wagner, who will be competing in the WSSC.
“We're out there from anywhere from four to eight -- sometimes more, sometimes less -- hours a day,” said Ray.
On Wednesday, the Aarrow team made of two men and a woman have been perfecting their moves for the World Sign Spinning Competition at Moon Valley Park in Phoenix.
“They're (judges) looking for technicality, the difficulty of tricks, transitions. How well you transition through, how fluid you are,” said Ray.
“Definitely your personality out there. Someone last year came out in an Elvis Presley suit and made it to the top five,” said CeCe Harmon, making her second trip to WSSC.
There's more to this job than just flashing advertising: It's a performance.
“As long as the crowd is happy and the cars are honking, people are waving and smiling. That's all that matters to me. That's how I know I've done my job,” said Wagner.