The "Do You Believe In Groundhog Day?" Story

Punxsutawney Phil

It was an ordinary day.  February 2, 2023 and it's Groundhog Day.  Groundhog Day is celebrated in many towns across America where a weather-predicting groundhog determines if there will be six more weeks of winter or if there will be an early Spring.  The very first Groundhog Day was celebrated on February 2, 1877 at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  But, the tradition of using rodents to predict the weather dates back much earlier and was brought to the United States by German immigrants.  The Groundhog celebration was created by a newspaper editor in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania named Clyner Freas, who was part of a groundhog hunting club called the Punxsutswney Groundhog Club.  Together the group designated Punxsutawney Phil as our nation's official groundhog meteorologist. Yesterday, the celebration was led by a group called the Inner Circle, who met wearing top hats and speaking in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect.  Every year, they trek to Gobbler's Knob to get Phil's weather prediction.  Each year tens of thousands of spectators attend Groundhog Day events in Punxsutawney.  And many towns across the United States and Canada celebrate the day with their own weather-predicting rodents.  Several Susquehanna Valley groundhogs made their predictions on Groundhog Day.  In Lancaster County, Octoraro Orphie predicted an early Spring,  Mount Joy Winnie predicted an early spring and M.T. Parker predicted an early spring.  In Lebanon County groundhog Uni predicted six more weeks of winter.  In York County Dover Doug predicted an early spring while Poor Richard also predicted an early spring.  Berks County Patty Pagoda predicted six more weeks of winter while in Schuylkill County, Grover predicted an early spring.  In the grand scheme of holidays, Groundhog Day gets kind of a bad rap since very few people get the day off or exchange presents with one another.  As for me...well I don't bother too much with the day as many in Lancaster County do every year.  I figure I will save my money for the important Holidays instead of spending a bunch to celebrate a holiday that celebrates a groundhog.  Now, don't get me wrong...I like groundhogs, but there is no way on earth that the groundhog can predict if we are going to have a bunch of snow or none based on whether they happened to see their shadow or not.  My belief is that the special day was designed for those who enjoy an extra drink or two and I can have that drink without heading out in the cold weather and watch to see if a groundhog, mostly dead or stuffed ones, will see their shadow.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.