Patrick Clyne and juggler.net generously donated 40 pizzas for lunch, which were consumed in a short time by the hungry jugglers. 8 Late Saturday evening, many of the club-passing groups managed to coalesce into one gigantic mob to practice arcane patterns like the Virginia Reel and a Really Huge Weave, as well as more common large-group efforts such as feasts and rotating feeds. Many folks think that this is the primary purpose of a juggling festival.

Saturday afternoon featured 11 acts vying for the coveted Groundhog trophy. AJA founder Rodger French took emcee duties as competitors performed in front of three judges, carefully picked for their complete lack of juggling knowledge. Three juggling teams carried off the prizes:

The Elsner Unijugglers, a family act of Jim, Diana, and Ian Elsner, won the Most Incredible prize. Their act consisted of ball and club passing, and a small girl riding a unicycle while juggling clubs. Both Elsner children are younger than 12 years old.

Another family act, Redefining Gravity, picked up Most Spectacular for their athletic club passing. Their routine featured some unusual steals and ended with a long, solid run of nine clubs passed between Heather and Darin Marriott. They also got costuming points for their spiffy red sequin vests and black pants.

The Most Stupendous award went to The Original Jugglers, a team made up of refugees from the Russian circus which went broke here in Atlanta some years ago, stranding many performers. Now based in Athens, Georgia, members Natasha Sarygina, Ivan Vlasov, and Mnir Bekchentqev put on a fast-paced show featuring nine-club feeds and back-cross lines presented from tall platforms and the ground. Natasha threw some fearsome flat-and-fast back-drops as they ended their act with an 11-club back-drop line to a gather with a sprinting catch by the back man.

Other competition acts included Matt Henry's five-ball work, with some fancy multiplex and pirouette moves; Seth Rider with an amusing cigar box piece including some clever stage business; and Matt Gerdon's showing of some clean bean-bag work, good stage personality, and very bare feet.

The Midnight Cabaret featured several members of the Deluxe Vaudeville Orchestra, with Tennessee performer Tom Foolery sitting in on mandolin. The show started off with Janet Metzger singing "Puttin' On The Ritz" and "You Only Live Twice:' Tim Settimi emceed after performing his excellent skate work and signature 'I'm OK" song. The Hamiltons, a husband and wife act, next performed their club-stealing and passing, enlivened by wildly contrasting costumes. Pam Hamilton sported a radical jester outfit, while Warren dressed in a very conservative gray shirt and monocolor tie. The act went off with exactly one drop.

Atlantans Dan Howard and Whitney Kornegay next performed some hot salsa dancing. John Nations showed a six-ring pulldown and smooth juggling with three, four, and five tennis rackets, all the while bantering with the crowd. Greg McMahon performed a humorous handkerchief color change and the infamous throw-over-the-head vanishing trick with volunteer Jackie Erickson, who cooperated gamely in spite of knowing all too well what was happening. .

The annual "Mouse" award went to Joyce Howard for her excellent work on the Groundhog and AJA web pages. Continuing the show, Matt Henry and Randy Cabral as the "Trained Human Club" performed some eerie glow-ball juggling and ramp-rolling on a dark stage. The second part of the act featured comic and musical ball-bouncing on the tops of laminated wooden cylinders. According to Matt, these are called cajones in Latin Percussion circles. The finale of the show was Scott and Joanie Houghton as Jessie and James, doing a strongly street-influenced act. They started with a newspaper cut with a whip (the wife wielding the whip) and concluded with impressive six-foot­unicycle clowning and a six-club passing pattern on the unis.

The festival concluded at Thai One On restaurant. Fran Favorini learned that they had not managed to put his name on the Many Peppers Plaque after he earned a place there last year; he promised to come back next year to check again. Around 8 p.m. the party broke up and everyone staggered on home or started on their long journeys out of state.

Pam and Warren Hamilton in the Midnight Cabaret.