Cars honked at the hoopla at 2640 Charles St., where three women were dressed up as Swiss milkmaids, another woman wore a silver jacket with matching boots and one man wore a homemade astronaut's helmet.

And all were hula hooping.

They were among 50 to 75 participants and onlookers at the fourth annual Hula Hoop-a-Thon at St. John's Church, in Charles Village, May 23 to raise money for Fluid Movement, a local performance art troupe best known for its elaborate, out-there summer water ballets.

The Hoop-a-Thon was out there, too. Two stiltwalkers waved at passing cars, a deejay spun dance music and dozens of children and adults spun multicolored, circular tubes around their midriffs, necks and ankles at the blocked-off intersection. Many were literally wigged out, including the milkmaids wearing bright yellow, braided wigs and one woman wearing a purple wig, hot pants and fishnet stockings.

Then there was the guy with the astronaut's helmet, complete with antennae, who said he was listening for signals from outer space. Turns out he was more grounded than that. He's Andreas Spiliadis, 42, who lives in Oakenshawe, teaches English and debate at Connextions Community Leadership Academy in east Baltimore and has two daughters, one of whom, Zoe, 13, a student at Roland Park Middle School, won this year's hula hoop contest.

But her bearded dad was the more colorful character, wearing a T-short that said "Hula Guru," and hula hooping in a spaced-out swaying motion

Two years ago, not knowing how to hula hoop, he heard about the second annual Hoop-a-Thon and came on a lark.

"It looked great," he said."

Now, he not only hoops but sells hula hoops that he makes from PVC irrigation tubing. "These are heavier," he said. "They're like the Cadillac of hoops."

Noelle "Strange" Powers, 31, of Charles Village, goes Spiliadis one better. She has her own business, called Hooping Powers (www.hoopingpowers.com). in which she teaches people to hoop and dance. She also sells hula hoops.

And she's running the B'more Summer Youth Hooping Camp from July 6-10 at Roland Park Country School.

That was her wearing the silver jacket and boots during a dancing demonstration inside the church, showing off her mastery of the hula hoop while a guest vocalist sang "These Boots Are Made For Walking," changing "boots" to "hoops."

So what is it about hooping that makes it so enduring?

"You can't have a bad time when you're hooping," Powers said.

"Impossible," said Spiliadis.

Hula hooping "crosses all boundaries," and is healthy for the body, mind and soul -- "a natural antidepressant," Powers said. "It makes you feel good. It's like an instant party-starter."

Kathy Frey-Balter, 42, of Bolton Hill, watched nostalgically as her daughter, Leah, 9, hula hooped.

"If you're our age, it takes you back in time," said Frey-Balter, a defense attorney. "If you're Leah, it's something different you can do than your older sister."

But her husband, Joe Balter, a deputy federal public defender, saw a deeper meaning in the art of hula hooping.

"It's a metaphor for life. It goes around and around."

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