While patrons are making Pork & Brew disappear Friday and Saturday (March 28-29) at Santa Ana Star Center, veteran magician Edward Aragoni just might make his assistant disappear.

Look for a guy wearing a red, white and blue top hat n sort of like Uncle Sam. Only this guy’s a magician from Arvada, Colo., a suburb of Denver.

A man of many talents, “The Great Aragoni” considers himself first a top-notch balloon artist. “I make everything: cowboy hats, crocodile hats, pigs and farm animals,” he said. Each session will last about 40 minutes, he said, as people n mostly youngsters n drift in and out of his area.

“I do a 15- to 20-minute magic show, (then) rotate the crowd,” he explained. “I love to entertain; I love to please people. You’ve got to be an extrovert, work the crowd. I make people feel good, make them have a wonderful time.”

Growing up in the Syracuse, N.Y., area, where his father owned a restaurant, Aragoni, 55, said he thought about being an actor someday, “maybe a teacher; a good comedian would’ve been nice, too.”

He learned his magic, thanks to being diligent about keeping up with his studies, through an apprenticeship under a magician. “I had to do well in school to keep learning,” he said.

He later served in the U.S. Air Force, moved to Colorado, finished his education at Denver University, where he was a classmate of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and began teaching.

He combined his sleight of hand to keep his fifth-graders entertained and enjoying their learning experience in his classroom.

Was he “Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?”

Of course, he said. “I love that program.

“Kids today do seem smarter and they seem more alert, assertive,” Aragoni said. “Children need to get more hands-on experience than on a computer.”

Although he has since retired form teaching, Aragoni loves interacting with children, so he’s looking forward to the Pork & Brew. (His performances run between noon and 8 p.m. Friday, 10:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Saturday.)

“I’ll be looking for volunteers with moms and dads,” he said. “I’ll do a lot of comedy, have some fun. I’ve been to New Mexico many times n I was at Pork & Brew last year. I was very well received last year.” (His uncles once ran All-American Products in Rio Rancho, he said.)

Aragoni stays busy performing magic in the Denver area, and he has a thick resume of past performances.

“I do a lot of local events,” he said. “I’m well established in Denver: rec centers, company picnics.”

So, the Great Aragoni was asked, what will people see from him?

“I’ll tear up a newspaper and bring it back in the flash. I do a lot with the kids, fast effects: a spinning clock that stops on the child’s age, a lot of gags. And some ‘mentalism,’ too. I may put a girl in a box, spin it, and she disappears.

“There are so many other things that I have to offer,” Aragoni said. “My show is very flexible. It’s not black and white.”