48th Atlanta Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival 2026

The 48^th annual Atlanta Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival took place Friday, January 30th through Sunday, February 1st, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia, specifically at the Yaarab Shrine Center on the southern border of Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhood. This festival is hosted by the Atlanta Jugglers Association (AJA), an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, a registered charitable organization in the state of Georgia. There was a 14,000 square feet gym space with a large stage also used for some of the workshops, Friday evening LED prop juggling and the games. Chairs were moved into the gym space to create audience seating for the Saturday afternoon competition and evening cabaret public shows.

The Atlanta Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival was $40 to attend for the entire weekend that included all shows, or $60 with a festival t-shirt that was designed by Andrew Austin and membership to the AJA. AJA membership may also include a link for members who are professional jugglers on the AJA’s website. A ticket to the Saturday evening Cabaret Show was $15. There was also a raffle and the hat was passed during the Saturday afternoon competition for the coveted Phil trophies – more on that below. There was plenty of free festival parking available at the Yaarab Shrine Center, one hotel (IGH VOCO: Darwin hotel) that was an easy few blocks walk away (with many other hotels also within one mile), and plenty of restaurants and coffee shops for all budgets all within one mile. There was also, very conveniently, one food vendor on-site throughout the weekend. Nick Hanson of “Handles!” was an on-site vendor and had 3D printed and wood jewelry for sale. If you would prefer to watch videos of all of the juggling action, the AJA festival link above has videos of all of the games, competitions, and cabaret performances that were recorded by none other than the IJA’s very own Jay Ko. This eJuggle article describes his incredible generosity to bring many jugglers from the Philadelphia area down to Atlanta for the weekend festival.

 

The weather over the weekend, especially on Saturday, was unseasonably cold with snow flurries that morning in Atlanta. Ahead of this storm, the Georgia Governor declared a state of emergency starting on Friday. The Yaarab Shrine Center was very supportive of the jugglers and allowed the festival to continue to take place. This was greatly appreciated by the AJA and jugglers considering many individuals traveled ahead of the predicted weather specifically to attend the festival. In the courtyard to the entrance of the gym there was a fountain that was operational (but not heated) throughout the weekend, and it was fascinating and quite beautiful to watch the ice accumulate in the fountain as the weekend progressed.

Friday evening included of course juggling and “glow night,” directed by Natalie Hazen, where jugglers could use the curtained-off stage to showcase their own or available to use LED props.

The Saturday afternoon games that were directed by Spencer Schwab with assistance from Madelyn Dinnerstein, included (with the winner in parenthesis): 3-ball Simon says (Max Housman), 5-ball endurance (Ethan Smith), club balancing (Ethan Smith), quarter juggling (Dan Brown), 7-club passing (Josh Spaugh and Kyle Owen), blind juggling (Austin Bruckner), huggling (Josh and Caleb Black), ball combat (Austin Bruckner), club combat (Josh Black), and one game that was new to me and many others in attendance – club crown. In club crown, the competing jugglers balanced three intertwined clubs on their heads while performing other commands like rotating in a circle, removing a shoe, moving from a standing to seated position, standing back up, walking downstairs, and catching three objects and juggling them. It was an entertaining game to watch, and the winner of club crown was Jacob Tillman.

The Saturday afternoon competition for the coveted three Phil trophies kicked off with the ever popular and always entertaining Atlanta Seed and Feed Marching Abominable (https://seedandfeed.org). This local legendary Atlanta street band has opened every single Atlanta Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival competition for 48 years. Dan Howard was the emcee for the afternoon; he explained the competition and introduced the ten acts. The three Phil trophies this year were: “Totally Rad,” “Zooming Hot,” and “Wicked Cool.” The performances are judged, not by seasoned veteran jugglers, but by three non-juggler members of the public who are in attendance. The judges receive no compensation other than a front row seat and a free ticket to the Saturday evening Cabaret Show. Each act was limited to four minutes, and while acts can go over that amount of time, nothing should be judged after four minutes.

The first competitor was Andie Mars from New Orleans, Louisiana, who juggled three hula hoops while performing various tricks including rolls across her arms and down her back and also balanced a hoop on her forehead while juggling three. She also juggled four and then briefly five hula hoops.

Ethan “Boy Scout” Smith from Little Rock, Arkansas was next and performed balancing and juggling with three knives, a staff spinning routine, and finally a combination trick where he balanced a long pole on his nose that had a set of two parallel vertical rings on top that he used to rotate a ball within the groove while also juggling three clubs.

Blayk Puckett (https://blaykpuckett.com) from Little Rock, Arkansas performed a very nice act with three tennis balls, and a tennis ball can. He performed numerous combination tricks gathering the tennis balls with the can while continuing to juggle and pleasantly engaging with the audience verbally. He concluded by juggling up to three tennis balls and the empty can together.

Kyle Owen from Little Rock, Arkansas performed juggling with three staffs that included impressive body rolls, rotations, and spins with the three staffs; his act definitely had an element of flow to it.

The fifth competitor, Arnav Rathi (YouTube: @ArnavRathi145) of Cincinnati, Ohio performed with many props. He started by riding on stage on a unicycle, rode backwards for a bit, and then proceeded to balance it on his chin. His juggling included performing patterns with three and five balls and flashing six balls. He then moved on to juggling and performing multiple patterns with three clubs, juggling four clubs, and flashing five clubs. His next prop was five rings, and he ended by pulling them all down over his head and then proceeded to flash six rings. He then picked up three balls and juggled while blindfolded. He then juggled three axes and concluded his performance by juggling three knives while on a rolling globe.

Ziggy Zaptacular was the next performer, and she enthusiastically and gracefully performed a contact juggling piece with one ball, juggled briefly with three balls and performed a shaker cup style routine with three plastic flowerpots. She then performed a dancing piece with fans and concluded with a dancing piece by spinning two fans that had large rainbow streamers.

Jackie and Skye of the Gainesville Circus Center in Gainesville, Florida were next and they performed partner juggling first together with three balls, followed by juggling with three balls each that showcased their dance skills and flexibility. Then they juggled together with up to five balls, moving next to partner work with up to three knives, and concluded by juggling three knives, each followed by passing five knives together.

Austin Bruckner (Instagram: @aussiediabolo) of Bolivia, North Carolina was next and he performed with one and then up to three diabolos, followed by a few patterns with three LED clubs. He moved onto rings next, starting with four, going on to five then ending by pulling them down over his head while transitioning into a split. He then juggled six and seven rings, followed by flashing eight rings. He concluded his well-received act by flashing seven rings while on a rolling globe.

Stephen Doutt (https://www.stephendoutt.com) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania performed a beautiful and intricate ring juggling / balancing / spinning / flipping / manipulation act. Stephen used rings of multiple sizes and included multiplexing and bouncing. It was an especially great act for jugglers to watch while he created many unique photo worthy pauses during his performance. Stephen juggled up to five rings in a cascade and up to seven rings using a three ring multiplexes along with a ring around his neck.

The tenth and final competitor was Rocco and Nova of Atlanta, Georgia – together performing as Gravity (https://gravityentertains.com) and they performed partner club juggling and balancing with up to six clubs together that showed their strength and athletic abilities.

Uriyah Keith McNeil (Instagram: @uriyahkeith) of Atlanta, Georgia who is a performer and inspirational speaker juggled during the judge’s deliberation and what a performance it was. Uriyah uses a mix of props, some of which are rather unique, including a square ring, a plate, truncated webbed club-like objects that he uses to catch, balance, and throw other traditional props like balls and circular rings while he got the audience to sing along to Michael Jackson’s, “Man in the Mirror.” Uriyah’s juggling was truly an enjoyable performance to watch.

The final judges’ results for the Phil trophies were:

• “Zooming Hot” Award – Rocco and Nova AKA “Gravity” from Atlanta, Georgia
• “Wicked Cool” Award – Jackie and Skye from Gainesville, Florida
• “Totally Rad” Award – Austin Bruckner from Bolivia, North Carolina

There were numerous workshops throughout the festival weekend, 14 scheduled in total. These included the following topics:

• Beginner Kendama – Alan
• Bounce Juggling Tricks – DrewBob
• Contact Juggling for Poi 101 – Graham
• Easy 3 Ball Tricks – Chris
• Easy 3 Club Tricks – Charles
• Fast-slow Club Passing Patterns – Logan, Kersin, and Jeff
• How to Juggle 4 Clubs – Logan
• How to Juggle the 5 Ball Cascade – Andrew
• How to Juggle Mills’ Mess – Andrew
• How to Pass Clubs – AJA jugglers
• Hula Hoop Anywhere! – Nat the Hoop Nerd
• Juggling Training Methods – Larry
• Ring Juggling Tricks – DrewBob
• The Coin Walk – Andrew

Juggling continued throughout Saturday. Later on, Saturday evening jugglers and members of the public came in from the cold outside to enjoy the Cabaret Show that was hosted by the AJA President DrewBob Ford.

The first act was the Amazing Larry Vee (https://www.juggle.org/larry-vee-the-amazing/) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (who has won 2^nd and 3^rd place at the IJA individual championships in 1989 and 1990, respectively) who performed three tricks in succession. Larry was also one of a few three-time Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival Phil trophy winners. His first trick was juggling a unicycle and two balls (he also rode the unicycle while spinning a hula hoop around his waist). The second was spinning two rings, one on each forearm, while also juggling three balls. For his third and final combination trick, he juggled three balls while on a rola-bola and also spinning a hula hoop around his waist. His performance definitely showed Larry’s versatile juggling skills.

Next was Ziggy Zaptacular who performed a dance piece with LED fans, then with an LED spinning staff This was followed by LED meteor poi, and another LED staff, all while in a spectacular LED enhanced costume.

Zared Henry from Johnson City, Tennessee performed a musical beatbox piece, which was something different for the juggler-predominate audience to watch.

Nick Hanson (of the aforementioned “Handles!”) from Huntsville, Alabama performed a breakaway club manipulation piece, almost treating it like a desk-walker skill toy, while flipping, spinning, and balancing it on parts of his body.

Next were the recent Phil trophy winners, Rocco and Nova AKA “Gravity” who performed with up to six club passing with choreography and feats of balance and strength.

Another very impressive performance was Tyler Cartwright (YouTube: @tcartt) of Atlanta, Georgia who spins signs. His performance had lots of energy, along with audience interaction, and it was a very well received, exciting performance; he no doubt has serious sign spinning skills that the audience wanted to see more of.

Tohm Pace was next who, while interacting with the audience, performed a really incredible and entertaining routine with single and multiple toothbrushes and incorporated ball spinning; you had to be there to appreciate it and the audience definitely did – it was truly a wonderful act.

Bradley Harris from Chicago, Illinois was next and he performed lots of dynamic and challenging three ball patterns, especially with cross arm carries. A stilt walker dressed entirely in blue was also a novel distraction joining him onstage.

Rocco came back solo to close out the show by juggling one through four LED clubs that included choreography and balancing.

 

Video of Austin Bruckner Flashing Seven Clubs

Juggling and workshops continued at the Yaarab Shrine Center on Sunday, followed by a wonderful dinner to close out the festival at Manuel’s Tavern, with all jugglers and their families invited to attend.

Atlanta is accessible by plane at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), train through Amtrak at the downtown Peachtree station (ATL), and by bus at the Atlanta bus station that is also downtown. Both the airport and bus station conveniently have stops on the red and gold Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) lines, as is the North Avenue MARTA station that is about a one-mile walk (or city bus ride) to the Yaarab Shrine Center. The Atlanta Amtrak station is about one mile from the red and gold MARTA lines and then a short ride to the aforementioned North Avenue MARTA station.

There’s plenty to see and do in Atlanta. I took the opportunity to visit the Atlanta Botanical Gardens; it’s about 1.5 miles from the Yaarab Shrine Center and a pleasant walk through Piedmont Park. There is a tropical indoor conservatory, and quite a few whimsical fountains in an expansive natural environment within the city. Other jugglers from out of town visited the World of Coca-Cola or the High Museum of Art. In my opinion, the Georgia Aquarium is also well worth visiting while you are in the area.

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum were also nearby at about two miles away from the Yaarab Shrine Center. While the library and museum were temporarily closed when I tried to visit due to the lapse in federal appropriations, I was still able to walk around and appreciate the grounds. On a side note, this article is about President Jimmy Carter’s and his wife, First Lady Rosalynn Carter’s, grandson, James Earl Carter IV, and his wife Sally performing some very skilled juggling for his grandparents.

As with any juggling festival, many individuals volunteered their time to make this weekend of juggling happen. This included teaching the aforementioned workshops, assisting with the games or the Saturday afternoon competition for the Phil trophies, performing in the Saturday evening Cabaret Show, working at the registration table, or behind the scenes efforts to organize and run the festival. All of their efforts resulted in a fun time for everyone in attendance. Each year the AJA specifically acknowledges one individual who has made especially valuable contributions to the festival and this year that person was Logan Pearce. Logan organized the workshops and the AJA presented her with the mouse award. Be sure to check out the 49^th Atlanta Groundhog Jugglers Festival next year as it is always an outstanding regional festival to attend!