‘Jack the Whipper' coming to Wild West City Aug. 7 and 8

BYRAM TOWNSHIP - Jack Lepiarz, a.k.a.”Jack the Whipper,” will appear at Wild West City in Byram Township on Saturday, Aug. 7 and Sunday, Aug. 8. The native of Texas, whose family lives in Madison, spent years as a child traveling with his father in the circus. It was his father, John, who introduced him to the bullwhip. “I watched my father throw knives and do tricks with the whip and it was hard for me not to become interested,” said Lepiarz, a 2006 graduate of Madison High School who turned 22 in early July. While attending a circus program for children, at which his father was teaching, Jack learned to crack the whip. “I was seven. I stayed at that level for a long time - just being able to crack it.” Then, when he was 17, he received a bullwhip for Christmas. He started practicing until he was able to wow crowds by snapping uncooked spaghetti out of his own mouth and using his whips to break the sound barrier. Now, Lepiarz performs at renaissance fairs, corporate events, and street shows. His newest trick, “firewhip,” debuted publicly at Wild West City earlier this summer. In the trick, Lepiarz lights a specially crafted tip on fire and performs. When not being Jack the Whipper - Bullwhip and Western Artisan, Lepiarz wakes up at 2 a.m. to write the morning and mid-day news segments for the Boston-area NPR affiliate. He recently graduated from Emerson College.