Lists of performers, sponsors, volunteers, photos, videos and other details of the festival

Winners of the coveted PHIL trophies this year were:

"Totally RAD" - Austin Bruckner
"Wicked Cool" - Jackie and Skye
"Zooming Hot" - Rocco and Nova

Festival Report by Charles Shapiro

Over 192 jugglers attended the 48th annual Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival January 30, 31 and February 1 at the Yaarab Shrine Center in downtown Atlanta. Jay Ko brought 12 people down from Philadelphia using his corporate travel bonus. Other large contingents included the Tallahassee folks and a bunch from Arkansas. Alas, our Canadian friends stayed home for obvious reasons.

Friday afternoon started off heavy, with lots of folks working on individual tricks and passing in groups. One group succeeded in a cycle of a 19-person rotating feed, with four people in the center and 15 around the edges. As always, 2- and 4- count predominated, although every year more odd-count patterns creep in. Some day they'll be the norm, I am sure of it. The glorious Glow Night happened on the stage due to the bitter cold weather, with boom-chik techno music echoing out across the rest of the venue. The crowd thinned out only a little bit by 11 pm as people left to get some sleep before the big day.

Saturday morning featured more Open Gym as later arrivals filtered in. Workshops were well-attended and feedback seemed to indicate they were useful. The Kelly's Seed and Feed Marching Abominable Band started the competitions off with a tight set: Band arrangements of The Champs' 'Tequila', Blue Swede's 'Hooked on a Feeling', Cherry Poppin' Daddies' 'Zoot Suit Riot', a Boom-Boom-Bap bit, Trombone Shorty's 'Buck Jump',and Quincy Jones' 'Soul Bossa Nova'.

The Competition was run again by Dan Howard. Ten acts competed for Coveted Phil trophies, all with a high level of professionalism and technical skill. Highlights included Andie Mars's graceful hoop juggling, Ethan Smith's fun act featuring knives, a big sketch board and apt music, Kyle Owen's staff work, and an extraordinarily touchin performance by our very own Ziggy 'Zaptacular' McCurley. Austin Bruckner won "Totally Rad" with a technically difficult act including diabolo, rings, a rolling ball, and finishing with a 9 ring flash/pulldown. Rocco & Nova took "Zoomin' Hot" with a very polished act featuring gymnastics, dance and club passing. Jackie & Sky won "Wicked Cool" with a polished act featuring 3-ball and 5-knife passing and juggling.

The Games were run once again by Spencer Schwab and Madelyn Dinnerstein. A major highlight was Ethan Smith's club balancing win, climaxed when he removed his T-shirt without dropping his chin-balanced club to an enormous roar from the crowd below.

Andy 'Drewbob' Ford MC ed the Cabaret, starting off by pointing out the many many people there who had been at more than one Groundhog, winnowed down to the five or so who had been to more than 40. Highlights included Larry Vee's multi-prop shenanigans, a graceful dance using a glow dress and cloak plus other glow props by Ziggy 'Zaptacular' McCurley, some fun Beat Boxing from Zared, and a fun toothbrush manipulation set by Tohm Pace. DrewBob presented the Mouse Award to Logan Pearce this year for her help as Workshops Director for many years.

About 46 people staggered into Manuel's for the post-Groundhog dinner. It broke up around 7 pm as people hustled off to catch airplane rides, move people and props around the city and try to catch up on sleep. See everyone next year!