Life and Times of Kevin Wikse

  Held at Ann Morrison Park, phantom vestiges of the now-defunct Boise River Festival still linger in the air surrounding the Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic. For those who remember, take a moment of silence and acknowledge those bygone days for what was a brief window of time for a unique Boise cultural phenomenon. For those who never knew, take solace; you need not experience the gnawing pains of regret that come at the end of a golden age.  While it feels like a breath of fresh air, the Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic is merely someone opening the door during a long and beautiful eulogy for a once wonderous River Festival. Old world blues, I suppose. While I remain jaded, I am becoming tentatively optimistic about the Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic.  -Kevin Wikse Spirit of Boise

  Circa 2016 to 2019, I routinely practiced a rare form of Daoist-born Chinese Martial Art titled Baguazhang or Pakuachang, meaning Eight Trigrams Boxing, based on the I-Ching. A dynamic, fast, and highly mobile method, the primary training is walking in a circle or walking around a central point. My center point was this tree in Settler's Park in Meridian, Idaho.  In 2019, I employed my Baguzhang skills in Las Cruces, NM, El Passo, TX, and finally, Tuscon, AZ, to hinder significantly much of the criminal element and human trafficking operations coming across and back through the TX/Mexico and AZ/Mexico boarders, which at one point and maybe still are, considered the first and second most dangerous land crossings in the world. My Baguazhang practice was one to two hours of daily circle walking followed by single movements repeated hundreds of times in line drills. During one of my last training sessions at Settler's Pak, I noticed I was walking a crop circle into the environmen