Festival Reviews

Groundhog Day Fest Isn't A "Light" Event 

To think positively, none of the 110 registered jugglers at the Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival ever had to worry about losing their throws in the lights! 

The creaky old Grady High School gym which has become the festival home for several years could certainly use more interior wattage once the sun goes down, but the mood in the room is great for chatting and renewing friendships if not for juggling! 

The ample side windows brighten things up during the day, when large numbers of the curious public drop by to see the open juggling and shows. As one of the longest-running regional festivals in America , this one has developed a faithful following and draws from a wide area. People came this year from as far away as Boston and Tampa , and at least eight New Yorkers made the trip. 

Seven acts went for the Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Trophies on Saturday afternoon. In what is surely one of the most dynamic traditions of any juggling festival anywhere, the 50 or more members of the Kelly Seed and Feed Marching Abominable Band opened the show for the umpteenth time with their unique comic performance of popular marching tunes. The usual panel of three complete strangers and non- jugglers was empanelled to determine who deserved to be anointed as "Most Magnificent," "Most Incredible" and "Most Stupendous." 

Mr. Magnificent, Ed Carstens, was one of few competitors who got costume points. He wore a white shirt, white pants, red sparkly belt and a black bow tie for his musical piece with three balls. He juggled flawlessly, and showed a good variety of speed moves and variations. Ed is a design engineer now with Advanced Microelectronics in Jackson , Miss. , where he has lived for a year. He works out with a juggling group that meets once a week there, but says he's not doing much performing. 

Former New Yorker Matt Henry was crowned "Most Stupendous." He showed the poise and personality that has landed him a job in Disney World, doing six ball bouncing and then combinations with three and four balls and a stick. Originally from Madison , Wisconsin , Henry spent two "stress-filled" years in New York trying to make a living as a juggler until he finally was hired by Disney last summer. Since then he has done five shows a day, six days a week as the opening act for the Hunchback of Notre Dame show in a 1,300-seat outdoor amphitheater. 

Todd Blair and Jimmy Robertson, the talented club passers known collectively as "Flight Patterns," won "Most Incredible." They have polished the runarounds and passing patterns they demonstrated in several summers work together at Kings Dominion theme park in Virginia . They showed a solid run of eight clubs for their finale. 

Other competitors included New York 's Saturn Dave, who danced three balls and his light feet around the floor. Otto the Great juggled balls and construction cones, Scott Cone did bean bags, devil stick and three clubs, and 13- year-old Michael Grebe brought out the rubber chickens. 

The weather on Saturday was beautiful and sunny, crowding Piedmont Park adjacent to the gym with roller bladers, joggers and occasional jugglers. Andy Peterson and Paul Foster, who met five years ago in a language class in Taiwan , renewed their friendship by passing clubs between parallel slack wires. Bruce Sarafian and a visiting friend from Sweden kept many, many balls up in the air. Rob Vancko and friend were successfully doing takeaways with seven balls. 

Neil Stammer brought the Juggling Capitol mobile store down from Washington , D.C. , while Greg Cohen transported Infinite Illusion up from Florida . The raffle included many nice prizes from those two and other vendors. Cohen won three scarves donated by Dube which were rumored to have been seen marked for resale at his table later! 

General figurehead Rodger French emceed a late-night Saturday cabaret, where the material was less publicly repeatable than the other shows and members of the audience felt free to add their input to the proceedings in numerous fashions. 

The show on Sunday was intentionally underwhelming. Rather than repeating Saturday's acts, organizers geared the it for the large number of lay people in the audience and went for individual and non-flashy demonstrations of representative juggling skills. Andy Ford did a nice three ball routine, and Dave Altman demonstrated rope spinning and whip cracking. John Fineman did three, four and five clubs, and Sean Kelly did four and five balls. Brian Miller was nearly flawless with one and two diabolos, and Flight Patterns (plus friend Kyle Greer) closed the show with some fancy club passing and take out patterns. 

Many visitors stuck around after the show for free juggling lessons, but those who traveled long distances to attend started packing their cars. French sent everyone away with a fond farewell and a request to develop some ideas for next year's big 20th annual affair. How about an indoor fire show so that, for at least a while, everyone can see what they're juggling?! 

1997