Click on the photo for more

Well another Groundhog Day has come and gone.

It is an even numbered year, so a visit to Wiarton is required.  By prior agreement, Sam and Trevor accompanied me; Mumtaz was in Montreal so had to regretfully bow out.

I went to Toronto on Thursday afternoon to prepare; Sam and Trevor joined me for the traditional pre departure nap followed by our departure at 2:30am.  Road conditions were excellent south of the Shelburne and pretty good to the north; rather minor amounts of snow on the ground although the plows were out.

We always stop in Owen Sound for gas and refreshments, the Macs Milk has attained a mythical status having morphed from a pretty rough arrangement in the early days to a rather splendid operation 4 years ago.  Well, it is no longer a Macs Milk, it has become a CircleK which is not exactly a major change, it seems to be a rebranding of Macs Milk.  More distressing is that many of the things that we loved about the new Macs Milk have been undone in the latest incarnation.  So we have decided to move the rest, relaxation portion of the trip to the 24 hour Tim Hortons and just stop for gas at the CircleK in the future.

For the second time since beginning this tradition, the venue has changed. It has been moved from Bluewater Park to the Wiarton Arena.  This is an inspired move, the area and its football field are much better, people can disappear into the arena for the pancake breakfast and to generally warm up much more easily that was possible in the tents that used to be used at Bluewater Park.  There was a lot of free swag available this year.  I have many souvenirs.

We were the first non-volunteers to arrive and got the best parking spot, this is not the first time that this has happened.  I always allow ample time for the possibility of bad road conditions.  A 10 minute fireworks display commenced at exactly 7am.  Very exciting.

The show this year was quite well paced, dominated by Sunwing Vacations who were the big sponsors this year, they set up a sort of dance along.  Wiarton Willie is part of a big ad campaign mounted by Sunwing; some of the ads are quite amusing indeed. The hour to the reveal passed very quickly this year.

As usual, Willie and the shadow cabinet were escorted to the stage by a pipe and drum band.  Sam and Trevor were very impressed and the speeches were short as well which was welcome.

Willie is still getting used to the limelight and you cannot really practise this enough, only real life experience will conquer this syndrome.

And, unfortunately, it will be 6 more weeks of winter, Willie saw his shadow.

The restaurant that we traditionally frequent for our post reveal breakfast has been obliterated; it is pretty much a crater.  Luckily, there is a new 50’s diner near the Owen Sound bypass that we enjoyed immensely.  They will learn over time, that on Groundhog Day, it is wise to expect a bigger than normal crowd.

Then there is shameful story by the CBC in Shubenacadie where a reporter claimed to have been attacked by Shubenacadie Sam.  The footage is obviously doctored; this is simply fake news, it didn’t happen and that’s that.

Star and April travel to a different Groundhog Day prognostication every year.  A couple of hours before I started working on this entry, their blog came alive; I was worried because they usually begin reporting around 31/January.  This year they celebrated Groundhog Day with Essex Ed in New Jersey. Check out their blog here.

For us, the rest of the trip passed pleasantly and we were all pleased with another successful Groundhog Day in Wiarton.

Now; next year, Groundhog Day will occur on a Saturday.  We have agreed that we will be travelling to Punxsutawney for a rare visit to a Groundhog Day celebration in an odd numbered year.  I promise a full report.