TOPSHAM — More than 30 Topsham-area students — ranging from grades 4-12 — will wheel, juggle and stilt-walk their way through the streets of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., in July to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday.

The Woodside One Wheelers, a 20-year-old unicycling group based out of Woodside Elementary School, will travel to Philadelphia’s Salute to Independence Parade on July 3, then to the National Independence Day Parade in the nation’s capital the following day.

“It’s kind of scary, but I’m really excited to show the crowd what I can do,” said unicyclist Jocelyn McKenney, a fourth grader at Woodside.

Dedicated kids from the One Wheelers are a regular fixture at local parades and events, including Sea Dogs and Maine Celtics games, the Moxie Festival in Lisbon and the Brunswick Memorial Day Parade. This isn’t their first time performing at a large scale, either. One Wheelers have traveled far and wide, including to Philadelphia for the Thanksgiving Day Parade and to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C.

‘LIKE YOU’RE FLYING’

In a small elementary school gym Tuesday evening, students atop the one-wheeled machines maneuvered forward and backward, weaved around poles and showed off their juggling skills. Acting as ring leader was Eric Pulsifer, whose day job is teaching physical education in the same gym.

Pulsifer founded the group in 2006 after learning to juggle from Woodside school’s principal, Rick Dedek. In the ’80s, Dedek was one of the first kids to join the Gym Dandies in Scarborough — a unicycling group founded by his own gym teacher.

The Woodside One Wheelers has about 100 members today, and around 30 of them have earned spots with the touring troupe.

“We started with three kids at our first performance, and then the first real group had about 30 kids in it,” Pulsifer said.

To qualify for major performances, kids have to be able to successfully pilot a “giraffe” unicycle — a 5-foot cycle that’s a step up from the traditional “short” models. Some members can ride unicycles with two or three wheels stacked on top of one another, which can rise to over 7 feet.

Woodside One Wheeler Abby Werts, a sophomore at Mt. Ararat High School, mastered the giraffe in seventh grade.

“It’s almost like you’re just flying,” she said. “I feel like it’s the closest thing that you can feel to walking on air. It’s hard to describe because, when you’re first doing it, you’re very, very nervous because you’re so much higher.”

A FAMILY CIRCUS

Throughout Tuesday’s hourlong parade practice, Pulsifer paused to remind students about the significance of performing on America’s 250th birthday in cities that have shaped the nation.

In Philadelphia, the Wheelers will ride past Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. It’s a fun trip, physical education and a history lesson all in one, the coach said.

Pulsifer’s son, Noah — his second kid to rise through the One Wheelers ranks — said he’s particularly excited to go because he loves history, a subject he plans to study in college.

The Pulsifers aren’t the only ones who have relatives involved in the group. Many members are siblings and cousins. Parents often volunteer as assistant coaches or help organize fundraisers and trips. Eric Pulsifer’s dad drove the bus to and from the group’s first performance.

Although Noah Pulsifer’s dad is head coach, “he won’t give me special treatment,” he said.

The Mt. Ararat junior, like many of One Wheelers’ upperclassmen, finds time to unicycle amid a busy schedule filled with hockey, golf and AP classes.

Bryce McKenney, Jocelyn’s older brother, also is a member of the group. So is their sister, Evelyn.

A sophomore at Baxter Academy in Portland and an alum of Woodside Elementary School, Bryce never quite took to the unicycle. Instead, he straps stilts on his legs and towers over crowds at parades.

“It’s been a pretty big part of my life for most of my life,” he said.

He has stilted at several cool celebrations, including the Moxie Festival parade, the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day parade and the challenging D.C. Cherry Blossom Parade.

“That day was really gusty, which is really hard on my stilts,” he said.

‘MORE THAN RIDING A UNICYCLE’

Riders often get their start at One Wheelers camp in the summer between their second- and third-grade years. Students first learn how to put on their pads, then they learn how to fall — “because they’re going to fall,” Eric Pulsifer said.

When they first mount a cycle, students have one person holding their arms on either side of them. Then, they have to pass a test riding on their own for 10 minutes straight without falling.

“The smile you see on a kid’s face when they make it across the gym — you just can’t beat it, because they put so much time and energy into that skill,” Pulsifer said.

When students achieve something or learn a skill they’re proud of — no matter what that may be — they can choose to ring a cowbell kept in Pulsifer’s office.

“At the beginning, when they first start, they ring it all the time,” he said. As they advance, “they ring in once in a great while.”

And when high school seniors graduate from the One Wheelers, they’re given their very own bells to celebrate how far they’ve come.

“It becomes more than just riding a unicycle,” Pulsifer said.

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