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From the top of the tower, the pool below does not look big enough to catch someone falling 80 feet.
To Simon Sarabura, it looks more like a teacup.
“If you were to put a glass of water on the floor in front of your feet and look down, that’s about the image that I have from the high-dive tower,” Sarabura said.
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Sarabura is part of the Flying Fools High Diving Show, a new attraction in the 2026 Queen City Ex lineup. The 20-minute performance combines acrobatic and Olympic-style diving with comedy before ending with a dive from 25 metres (80 feet).
The show is produced by Montreal-based Milord Entertainment, which has taken the Flying Fools around the world since 1990. Its performers dive from platforms ranging from three to 25 metres.
Sarabura estimates the show last visited Regina about a decade ago, but his own connection to the city stretches back even further.
His first Flying Fools performance was at the Queen City Ex about 17 years ago.
“I saw this show performing at the Calgary Stampede 18 years ago, and I thought to myself, ‘That’s pretty cool. I could do that’,” he said. “The next week, I was sent here to Regina.”
He has been travelling with the show ever since.
Sarabura began gymnastics at age two before switching to springboard diving. He later competed in NCAA Division I diving at the University at Buffalo.
After university, he faced a question familiar to many competitive divers: What comes next?
“There’s not much left for divers to do,” he said. “We don’t have the NBA or the NFL, so if you want to continue the sport, well, I ran away with the circus.”
That decision has taken Sarabura across Canada and the U.S., as well as to Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman and South Africa.
The current crew includes Sarabura and his wife, along with three American divers from Alaska, Nebraska and Colorado.
“There aren’t too many high divers in the world, so when you find one you hold on to them,” Sarabura said.
Sarabura and his wife have performed together for 14 years. Another diver has been with him for a decade, while the newer members have spent between two and five summers with the group.
“Some people get old and retire and hang up their Speedos, as we say,” he said. “I’ve got to find new people as we go.”
Flying Fools performers leap from several platforms during their new high-diving show at the 2026 Queen City Ex. (Jacob Bamhour/980 CJME)
A portable performance
The Flying Fools need much more than a diving board at each stop.
The crew transports and assembles a portable pool, scaffolding, diving boards and a 90-foot tower. The pool is built from 20 steel panels and is about 3 metres (10 feet) deep, while the highest platform sits 25 metres (80 feet) above the water.
“At the end of the day, we have to pack it up, put it in our trailer, drive it and set it up next week in another city,” Sarabura said.
When the company performs overseas, the equipment is packed into a shipping container and sent months ahead of the crew.
The portable setup also creates challenges not found at a permanent competition pool. The lower boards sit on scaffolding beside the pool, while the top platform is attached to a narrow tower that can move in the wind.
“It hurts your feet when you’re climbing up it. It’s very tiny, and it’s very nerve-racking,” Sarabura said.
“Sometimes you can feel it swaying in the wind.”
Even after nearly two decades, Sarabura still gets nervous before climbing the tower.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I’m more confident than I was before, but at the end of the day we all have to respect the danger of what we do.”
He said performers develop their high dives gradually, moving to higher platforms only after building the necessary confidence and consistency.
“When we get too confident and say, ‘This is easy. I’ve got this,’ that’s when accidents tend to happen,” he said.
During the finale, the diver can reach approximately 75 km/h before entering the water feet first. Extensive professional training allows the performer to slow and redirect that momentum inside the shallow pool.
“You are cooking, so you’ve got to be on the ball and make sure you’re really focused,” Sarabura said.
“It’s all about the longevity of doing a safe show, but still daring and entertaining.”
Despite the nerves, physical demands and travel schedule, Sarabura said the performers consider themselves fortunate.
“We’ve got the best job in the world,” he said. “We get paid to travel the world, jump in our pool and still perform the sport that we love.”
The show also gives former competitive athletes an opportunity to continue using skills they developed as children.
“There’s nothing cooler for us than to still be able to use those skills,” Sarabura said. “Now we’re getting paid to do it.”
After wrapping up at the Queen City Ex on Sunday, the crew will take a two-week break before setting up at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. Stops near Windsor, Ont., and at the Mississippi State Fair will follow.
For Sarabura, the Regina stop has brought his career full circle.
“My first show was 17 or 18 years ago here in Regina, and I haven’t stopped since,” he said. “I’ve travelled all over the world now performing this high-dive show.”
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