Longtime residents of Prescott remember fondly the day in June when Tsunami on the Square would light up the evenings with fire dancers, stiltwalkers and other unusual entertainment. The Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theater, the original Tsunami host organization, is coming back with a scaled-down version it calls the Roving Wave Festival, first seen in 2023. Carpetbag Director Jay Ruby and veteran members working together since 2010 say they’re excited to bring the festival back.

Jerome, Cottonwood, Sedona, Prescott Valley and Prescott will all host versions of this free, family-friendly evening of entertainment over two weekends, and the show will never be the same twice. Anchored by the acrobatic stilt dancing of the Carpetbag Brigade and juggler Chase Archer, shows will variously feature the TBD Show Puppets, Meg and Thatcher Bohrman’s OK Apocalypse, a yoga class led by Samantha Beasley of Bend Hot Yoga, and Scandalous Hands.

Carpetbag veteran Helen Goodrum explains, “Part of our piece is improv … therefore you do need trust, because you're performing in front of people. If I start throwing my weight at someone, I expect that person to be able to catch me and safely do it in front of all these people. So trust is a huge part of it.”

Ruby adds, “We're gonna bring trust back to community medicine magic. When people see other people trusting each other — and it doesn't really matter with what, because we live in a society that's highly isolated and highly alienated, though less so in a town like this than a bigger city — when you see four or five people doing things that are beyond your normal scope of behavior and you can feel them trusting each other, it changes your consciousness.”

The Carpetbag Brigade is looking for a few volunteers, encouraging those interested to make contact through the website. Members say they hope you'll grab some dinner from one of the restaurants near the square, “bring your kids, bring your parents, bring your friends, bring strangers and make friends” for a unique experience.