Groundhog Day trophy winners (l-r, holding trophies) Cindy Marvell, John Nations, Will Howard. (l-r, standing behind) Steve Howard, Joyce Howard, Caroline Metash, Andy Howard and Dan Howard.

(photos by Bill Giduz)

The usual non-stop entertainment from the 11th annual Groundhog Day Juggler's Festival in Atlanta was interrupted by a little business.

On Saturday morning of the Feb. 3-5 gathering in the Inman School gym in Atlanta, Vince Patrick, marketing manager for the new Underground Atlanta, presented his expectations for street performing opportunities there. He said Underground will be a "lifestyle" unto itself, comprising shops, restaurants, bars, offices and apartments.

He said the City of Atlanta is spending $142 million to develop the six-block area located at the center-city mass transit stop. However, Patrick's employer, the Rouse Company-Atlanta has been retained to perform the leasing, marketing and management efforts. Buskers will be an important part of Underground's marketing, Patrick said. Hearing that they would be allowed to operate legally downtown was good news for many jugglers there. Atlanta has never been a city friendly to street performance before.

Patrick said Rouse Company currently operates six other downtown complexes nationwide which use buskers. They include Union Station in St. Louis, Faneuil Hall in Boston, Harborplace in Baltimore, South Street Seaport in New York, and River Walk in New Orleans. Patrick admitted, however, that buskering has worked better at some of those than at others. A variety of different buskering arrangements exist.

Patrick came to the convention asking help from those attending to make fair and equitable Underground buskering arrangements well before the project's June 15 public opening.

Business aside, it was back to juggling for the 125 or so people who enjoyed another Groundhog festival. The Saturday afternoon show ran 18 acts long, including five children from the Mimosa School Juggling Club who signed up for the lineup. While they didn't show much more than balls, clubs and rings, the youngsters got encouraging applause. Club coordina­tor Peggy Sikes brought along about 17 of her elementary school jugglers, and a cadre of parent/drivers. It was their first exposure to a juggling world wider than the walls of their school. Needless to say, students and coach alike were thrilled.

The competition included 18 acts, but there were only three Phil trophies for the amateur judges to assign. One should have gone to judge Marvin Matthau (brother of Walter and a.k.a. "The Human Seal") who got the show started by balancing on his chin a girl seated in a chair!

The judges chose John Nations of Columbia, S.C., as the "Most Astounding" Phil winner. Nations did some inspiring combination tricks, including five rings on a rola-bola. He also balanced a racket on his head while doing two clubs and a ball, and dropped. the balance down into a four-object juggle. Besides John's juggling, the audience appreciated his assistant/girlfriend, Caroline Metash.

As "Most Awesome," the judges chose The Howard Family Jugglers. Andy and Joyce and their three sons Dan (12), Steven (10) and Will (8) kept smiling throughout some simple ball, club and ring passing routines. They appealed to everyone's sense that "The family that juggles together deserves an award." Cindy Marvel was definitely "Most Amazing" with club and ball routines choreographed to music, despite a slow recovery from the flu, Cindy held together most of her difficult tricks. On the sideline she was practicing seven ball cascades and five club back crosses. She performed some of her poetry during a midnight cabaret after a crowded Cajun-theme party.

The talent level at Groundhog Day was impressive. Besides the winners listed above, show and competition people included Jeff Daymont, the Fettucini Brothers, Benji Hill, the Jongleur Jugglers, Bob Whitcomb and Brad Zentmeyer. Henry Slack, a.k.a. Professor Henry Huggler, failed again to win a Phil in his 11th straight year of competition. However, he got big audience points by adding his newborn son to the act.

Those who shied away from the public, but shone among jugglers nonetheless, included Dan Berg, Alexis Lee, Mark Lippard, Andre Vincent (a.k.a. . Arry Pavarotti) and Art Werger. The Atlanta Jugglers Association again did a great job of hosting a friendly, smooth-running event. Standing firmly behind president Toni Shifalo in staging the event were Rodger French (now relocated to Washington, D.C.), Charles Shapiro and Ginny Slack. Many thanks to them and many others who worked for the common good of the jugglers who attended.