<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1yOVo9_0vkwEAZA00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1yOVo9_0vkwEAZA00" width="1318" height="659" ><figcaption>Jackson Price performs as Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, during a recent event at The University of Toledo. Price will entertain at the Saturday, September 28 Roche de Boeuf Festival in downtown Waterville from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. as Michael Jackson and several other musicians, including Prince, Usher, Bobby Brown, James Brown and Bruno Mars. PHOTO COURTESY OF JACKSON PRICE</figcaption></figure>BY KAREN GERHARDINGER | MIRROR REPORTER — Jackson Price has danced on streets, sidewalks, basketball courts, stages, atop the Mud Hens dugout and at Walleye games.On Saturday, September 28, Price will be set up in the Farnsworth Cocktail Bar parking lot during Waterville’s Roche de Boeuf Festival from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. For the first set, Price will entertain with hits from Michael Jackson. In the second set, he’ll pay tribute to musicians including James Brown, Bobby Brown, Bruno Mars, Prince, Usher and other musicians who have encouraged him.“This is my first show to perform stuff other than Michael,” said Price, who will bring numerous costumes and an amp for playing tunes while he dances. Last year, the Waterville native showed up at the 50th Roche de Boeuf Festival for an impromptu performance, and Waterville Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Michelle Smith took notice.“I happened to see him performing in the middle of the street to a huge crowd. He was so good! He was one of the first people I contacted in preparing for Roche de Boeuf this year,” she said. “I wanted to offer him a better opportunity.”While he puts out a tip jar, Price said he performs because he loves it.“It’s really the fans that keep me going – the energy and the adrenaline it brings,” he said. “I’ll forever love the impact that Michael had, and I hope to share it.”Price was a 4-year-old when he first saw Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video, and he was hooked. He taught himself how to do all of Michael’s moves, including his facial expressions, and obtained costumes. He still spends much of his free time putting together set lists and arrangements with music and practicing his dance moves.Many in the community, including area police officers, are now familiar with seeing him dancing in the streets at all hours.“I’ve had people honk and give me the thumbs-up, or pull up next to me and say, ‘You’re Michael Jackson!’” he laughed.For over eight years, Price has performed all over, including more than 30 times in the Whitehouse Park pavilion. He’s opened for Distant Cousinz at Hensville and appeared at local festivals and at halftime shows for sporting events, but he’d like to expand beyond Ohio and pay tribute to Michael Jackson in Michigan, Indiana and even further.“My goal is to make it to Las Vegas or California and do buskering or have my own show,” he said, referring to a 2021 Michael Jackson tribute at the Maumee Indoor Theater, where hundreds of fans enjoyed an hourslong performance in celebration of the end of COVID-19 lockdown.A 2021 St. Francis de Sales graduate, Price is now a junior at Bowling Green State University, where he’s studying education. While substitute teaching in Toledo-area schools, he’s motivated students to do well in their studies by promising to do the moonwalk or other dance moves at the end of class.“I really do care for the youth and want to help inspire them to do whatever they want to do and follow their dreams,” he said. “I feel like it’s what God put me here to do.”Over the past two years, Price has taken on another role: Muddy the Mud Hen. He remembers that as a kid, Muddy was the main reason he wanted to go to a baseball game, so he does his best to entertain.“To be a good mascot means being funny, engaging and silly, coming up with skits and messing with the fans and dancing,” he said. “I want to make their night more enjoyable.”Last year, Price added on another mascot role: CatTrick, the Walleye’s catfish. And in June, Price was called up to Detroit for a one-night role as Paws the Tiger. It’s a role he’d love to take on again – or that of any mascot for Major League Baseball or the NFL.“You may not be having the best day, but as soon as you put that mask on and turn on that character, you give it your very best and 100-percent energy to that role,” he said. “It’s rewarding when the kids are hugging you. It makes you feel like what you’re doing is worth it.”As the King of Pop and other musicians during his Roche de Boeuf performance, Price will encourage the crowd to sing or move to the music. Bleachers will be set up in the parking lot for the audience.In addition to Price, the Farnsworth Cocktail Bar slate will include performances by the Springfield High School Exhibition Drill Team around noon and Melissa’s Dance Academy from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Jackson Price Brings King of Pop, Others To Roche De Boeuf Festival

BY KAREN GERHARDINGER | MIRROR REPORTER — Jackson Price has danced on streets, sidewalks, basketball courts, stages, atop the Mud Hens dugout and at Walleye games. On Saturday, September 28, Price will be set up in the Farnsworth Cocktail Bar parking lot during Waterville’s Roche de Boeuf Festival from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. For the first set, Price will entertain with hits from Michael Jackson. In the second set, he’ll pay tribute to musicians including James Brown, Bobby Brown, Bruno Mars, Prince, Usher and other musicians who have encouraged him.