Art on ice wows fans

PEORIA - It was an evening of theatrical adventure Sunday as glitzy costumes, flashy lighting effects and a team of skating champions hit the rink for the Smucker's Stars on Ice 2004 U.S. tour.

Peoria was the 49th stop on the 60-city "Time" tour, produced by six-time World champion and Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, which ends April 11.

The skaters were excited to be in Peoria because the crowds in small cities are more excitable, event officials said.

That excitement was apparent even before the show began. Lines of enthusiastic figure skating fans swarmed toward the arena doors. Though squashed shoulder to shoulder, people in the crowd never stopped grinning while waiting to enter the arena.

"She's a skating fanatic," said Scott Cook of Peoria about his 4-year-old daughter, Brittany, while holding the hand of his 2-year-old son, Andrew, as the trio waited in line. "She takes lessons at Owens Center."

The two kids said they were definitely excited to see the show.

"I want to do what they do," Brittany said while twirling around.

"Yeah, they flip over and they jump," Andrew added.

The Cooks were among nearly 10,000 people to take their seats before the 4 p.m. performance.

Seated in the lower bowl, Fran Crouch, 56, of Pekin accompanied by her aunt Frances Kunder, 73, also of Pekin, said they got tickets when they first went on sale.

"I enjoy skating, so I started coming with Frances. She's a big skating fan," Crouch said while Kunder nodded in agreement.

"It's just beautiful skating," Kunder said.

Guest skater Kurt Browning, four-time World champion, took the ice as the first soloist. The first athlete ever to successfully complete a quadruple jump in world competition dazzled the crowd as he skated to "Moondance" by Michael Buble, smiling and winking to the audience the entire time.

Oksana Baiul, the other guest skater, added some hip hop to the show as she pumped up the audience to "Ain't it Funny" by Jennifer Lopez.

"This is an outstanding show," said Bob Oselend, 73, of Springfield, who came with his wife, Wanda Oselend, 73. The two traveled in a bus full of 50 friends from Springfield for the evening.

Torri Jesse, 6, came with her father, John Jesse, and her Brownie troop from Princeton. The group of youngsters was mesmerized by the strong, graceful athletes, John Jesse said.

Torri was unsure what her favorite part of the night was.

"I don't know ... the costumes," she said with a shy smile.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to promote literacy.