Groundhog Day 2011

Breaking News: Punxsutawney Phil Predicts An Early Spring


I went to Groundhog Day once. Yep, February 2, 1999. Exactly 102 years after the first trek to Gobblers Knob for this same event. Anyway, it was the last Groundhog Day of the last century and that’s pretty much the only reason it’s noteworthy. I’m not sure why we went. It seemed like a good idea at the time.


For those of you who don’t know, the official groundhog (I think there are a few copycat. . . um “copy-groundhogs” out there) resides in a hollowed out (fake) tree stump in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (say that three times fast) and it just so happens that a friend of mine grew up not far from Punxy and so three of us piled into a car and set out for the backwoods of PA. After being bused to the field where Punxsatawney Phil makes his prognostications, we waited for hours in a cold rain/drizzle for the festivities to begin. Or rather, the main event. There was plenty of entertainment beforehand although all I really remember is a large man (the emcee) in a walking cast and wildly printed M.C. Hammer pants dancing around on stage to “Play That Funky Music”. It was sad. I could have used a drink.

Hours and hours later, members of the
Inner Circle
made their way to the stage.

Here are members of the
Inner Circle


The Groundhog Club president pulled Phil from his “burrow” by the scruff of his neck and held him up for all to see.

According to legend, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be
six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there
will be an early spring.

As someone who’s been there, let me tell you, it is darn near impossible for Phil to NOT see his shadow (as evidenced by the fact too, that he’s only not seen his shadow 15 times since 1887). The lights, the cameras. . .it’s bright and it’s noisy. I actually felt bad for Phil, and who feels sorry for a groundhog?

Five minutes later we were on our way back home and the last Groundhog Day of the 20th century was in the books.

Comments

  1. DeannaFebruary 2, 2011 at 4:29 PM

    At the local game farm we have a copy-cat Phil named "French Creek Freddy" - haha!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MeganFebruary 2, 2011 at 6:21 PM

    Interesting! I bet that was quite an event for a 30-second show (if even that).

    ReplyDelete

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