History of the Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival

Home | About Us | Meetings | Festival | FAQ | Contact Us | Members | Pictures | News

1.   1979 Atlanta Civic Center
Most Stupendous Louis Zeller (Captain Slow)
Most Spectacular Ernie Nolen
Most Incredible Christopher Kerl

2.  1980 Atlanta Civic Center
Most Incredible Mark Norman
Most Spectacular Louis Zeller (Captain Slow)
Most Stupendous Rodger French

3.  1981 Atlanta Civic Center
Most Stupendous Andy Ford & Jeff Kinnamon
Most Spectacular David Lowe
Most Incredible Larry Vaksman

4.  1982 Grady High  School
Most Stupendous Robert Peck
Most Spectacular Anthony Gatto
Most Incredible Larry Vaksman

5.  1983 Paideia School
Most Stupendous John Mallery
Most Spectacular Benji Hill
Most Incredible Larry Vaksman

 

 In 1979 a small group of jugglers calling themselves the Atlanta Jugglers Association decided to throw a party and invite some other jugglers. The Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival was born. Every year since then jugglers gather in Atlanta on the first weekend of February for fun and partying and juggling.

On Saturday during the festival several jugglers compete for the infamous PHIL trophy. Here are the locations of the festival and winners from past years. Click on the year for the story of the each year's festival (some with pictures).

1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Pictures of some past festival shirts are here.

Performers and groups who have won three PHIL trophies over the years:

  • Larry Vaksman
  • Jongleur Jugglers
  • Pat McGuire
  • John Nations
  • Peter Panic
  • Book Kennison

 

  

6.  1984 Grady High School
Most Stupendous David Lowe
Most Magnificent Jongleur Jugglers (John Creveling, Mike Stillwell & Yvonne Wetherell)
Most Incredible Edward Jackman

7.  1985 Grady High School
Most Praiseworthy Robbie Weinstein
Most Laudable Alan Howard
Most Distinguished Jongleur Jugglers (John Creveling, Mike Stillwell & Yvonne Wetherell)

8.  1986 Grady High School
Top Dog Barry Abraham
First Prize Robby Weinstein
Best in Show Robert York

9.  1987 Grady High School
Most Transcendant Benji Hill
Most Profound Manic Expressions (Tommy Gabiel, K. C. Canter & Mark Lippard)
Most Important Barry Abraham

10.  1988 Grady High School
Most Stupendous Bob Whitcomb
Most Incredible Cindy Friedburg (Cindy Marvell)
Most Spectacular Jeff Mason
Grand Prix du Phil Jongleur Jugglers (John Creveling, Mike Stillwell & Yvonne Wetherell)

11.  1989 Inman Middle School
Most Astounding John Nations
Most Awesome Howard Family Jugglers (Andy, Joyce, Dan, Steve & Will Howard)
Most Amazing Cindy Marvell

12.  1990 Inman Middle School
Most Incredible Jeff Daymont
Most Stupendous Gregg Hosfeld
Most Amazing Chuck Gunter

13.  1991 Grady High School
Most Magnificent Pat McGuire
Most Stupendous Peter McGloughlin (Peter Panic)
Most Incredible Adam Kariotis

14.  1992 Rich's Central Academy (formerly Bass High School)
Most Stupendous John Nations
Most Spectacular Pat McGuire
Most Incredible Jay Gilligan
  Mouse Award Kathy Motti

15.  1993 Grady High School
Most Magnificent Pat McGuire
Most Spectacular Jeff Jehrio
Most Incredible Jongleur Jugglers (John Creveling, Mike Stillwell & Yvonne Wetherell)
Mouse Award Ginny Slack

16.  1994 Grady High School
Most Stupendous John Nations
Most Spectacular Jay Gilligan
Most Incredible Brian Patz
Mouse Award Henry Slack
17.  1995 Grady High School
Most Magnificent Andy Ford
Most Spectacular Jim Coughlin
Most Incredible Casey Boehmer
Mouse Award Patrick Cline

18.  1996 Grady High School
Most Stupendous Jimmy Robertson
Most Spectacular Steve Athearn
Most Incredible JoAnn Swaim
Creativity Award Emory University Throwing Up Society (EATUS)
Mouse Award Toni Shifalo

19.  1997 Grady High School
Most Stupendous Matt Henry
Most Magnificent Ed Carstens
Most Incredible Flight Patterns (Jimmy Robertson & Todd Blair)
Mouse Award Bill Giduz

20.  1998 Grady High School
Most Stupendous Tesselation (Geoff Estes & Eli Wright)
Most Fantastic Peter Panic
Most Incredible Charlie Peachock
Mouse Award Rodger French

21.  1999 Grady High School
Most Magnanimous Dazzing Dimuzio Brothers (Paul & David Dimuzio)
Most Amazing Steve Elvis Brown
Most Incredible No Count Jugglers (Mo Hendon, Eli Wright & Geoff Estes)
Mouse Award Brenda McClain

22.  2000 Grady High School
Most Amazing Nathan Dorrell
Most Magnificent Sean McKinney
Most Spectacular Pam, Kristen & Warren Hamilton
Most Magnanimous Rick Purtee
Mouse Award Chris Sands

23.  2001 Grady High School
Most Incredible Elsner Unijugglers (Jim, Diana & Ian Elsner)
Most Spectacular Redefining Gravity (Heather & Darin Marriott)
Most Stupendous Original Jugglers (Natasha Sarygina, Ivan Vlasov & Mnir Bekchentqev)
Mouse Award Joyce Howard

24.  2002 Grady High School
Most Amazing Erik Tait
Most Awesome Seth Rider
Most Astounding Book Kennison
Mouse Award Charles Shapiro

25.  2003 Grady High School
Most Breathtaking Redefining Gravity (Heather & Darin Marriott)
Most Fabulous Robby Kuhn
Most Overwhelming Carlos Nieves
  Mouse Award Linda Mooney (Brenda's mom)
Most Dependable Atlanta Jugglers Association

26.  2004 Horizons School
Most Spectacular Perpetual Motion (Chuck Hawley and Anthony Shave)
Most Splendid Rico Guzman
Most Stupendous Cameron Ritter
Mouse Award Andy Ford

27.  2005 Cross Keys High School
Most Fabulous Book Kennison
Most Flabbergasting Peter Panic
Most Awesome Steve Langley
Mouse Award Bruce Plott

28.  2006 Cross Keys High School
Awe Inspiring Casey Boehmer
Mind Bending Matt Hall
Totally Stupefly Kellin Quinn

29.  2007 Yaarab Shrine Center
Most Special Book Kennison
Most Spectacular Tony Pezzo
Most Stupendous Ted Joblin

29.  2008 Yaarab Shrine Center
Most Astonishing Kenny Toombs
Most Inconceivable David Ferman
Most Staggering Ashley Ellis

29.  2009 Yaarab Shrine Center
Most  
Most  
Most  

 
   
   

Home | About Us | Meetings | Festival | FAQ | Contact Us | Members | Pictures | News

 

Copyright 2000-2008 by the Atlanta Jugglers Association.  All rights reserved.

Web site design and hosting by Advanced Systems