Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival 1996

I don't really have time to write a proper review of this weekend's Groundhogs Day Juggling Convention here in Atlanta, Georgia this past weekend, but here are a few highlights.

The winners of this years Phil competitions were: Jimmy Robertson doing juggling with balls and clubs, and some difficult unicycle and folding chair riding (I'll leave you wondering about the folding chair riding); Steve Athearn doing some technical combination tricks (head bounce while juggling 4 balls, pole balance with 5 rings, and a combo trick while reclined in an antipodist setup spinning a ring on one leg, a hoop with one foot, a plate on a mouthstick, and juggling 3 knives over his head); and JoAnn Swaim doing some very clean ball juggling with up to 7 balls. Nice stuff from all 6 competitors this year. A special award was given to the Emory University Throwing Up Society (EATUS) for creativity. Their act was one of the funniest juggling acts I've seen in years. Ask Ben from Serious Juggling to see his video of it if you get a chance, although I'm not sure if it would look sufficiently silly on video. 

The turnout was a little light this year because of the weather. I believe we ended up with around 70 registered jugglers. Thanks to everybody who trooped in despite the storm! A special commendation should go out to Steve Athearn and two guys from Richmond, Virginia who drove 13 and a half hours Friday night through the very worst of the storm to make the fest! Wow, talk about dedication! 

Thanks also to the vendors who made it to the fest, including Serious Juggling, The Juggling Capitol, and Infinite Illusions. Hope ya'll make it back next year. There will be more people, I promise.

Well, that is all for know, I'll try to post some more details when I have some more time if nobody else does.

1996