Up at 6:30am

In a normal off year, I make it a point to get up around 8am in time to tune into to a local TV station and get the news from Wiarton. Punxsutawney officials announced that an event would take place on Gobblers Knob but it would be closed to the public. They did, however, offer the option of sending a photo in to be mounted on cardboard and displayed at Gobblers’ Knob in lieu of a live audience. The live stream was scheduled to start at 6:30am; naturally I got up to watch; for some reason, Mumtaz declined.

Great Effort in Punxsutawney

The Live Stream from Punxsutawney was excellent, a mixture of live commentary and video retrospectives with prominence given to GHD 2020 which was nostalgic. The show included all the traditional elements. At around 7:10, the Inner Circle marched to the stage at Gobblers’ Knob. Phil awoke quite easily, he seemed a bit taken aback at the lack of followers; and he predicted 6 weeks of winter. Check out the entire live stream here. You may listen to the Pennsylvania Polka at the 57th minute.

Star and April

We met Star and April at Wiarton some years ago and I follow their entertaining blog devoted to an annual trip to a different Groundhog Day celebration. Living in different cities and unwilling to allow GHD to pass uncelebrated in spite of the pandemic, they met midway between homes and celebrated in a careful socially distanced fashion including watching the feed from Punxsutawney. You will find their blog here.

Wiarton

The end of the Punxsutawney live feed left about 50 minutes to the reveal in Wiarton. This was perhaps a bit less satisfying. There were multiple references to a live feed from Wiarton, but no links to follow. With some effort, I found an interview with the mayor of Wiarton from earlier in the week; she suggested going to the web site or watching local media. Well, the web site was filled with messages and testimonials but no link to the live stream. Finally in desperation, I tuned to CP24, which can always be counted on to cover Wiarton Willie. CP24 announced that Wiarton Willie predicted 6 more weeks of winter at about 7:55am. I was troubled by this since the prediction at Wiarton occurs at a little after 8:10am; remember that the timing of the prediction is based on sunrise. I decided to wait until after 8:15am and, sure enough, CP24 was required to humiliatingly announce their error.

At about 8am, a video appeared on Wiarton Willie’s Facebook page which was not live. There was a retrospective on 65 years of the Wiarton Willie festival including a reenactment of the original prediction (throwing a hat into the snow!), and messages from various dignitaries. Evidently this was a prediction. At around 8:20, CP24, in a streamed interview with the mayor of Wiarton, confirmed that the prediction was for an early Spring. The implication was that Willie was actually woken up for this. I will allow the tone of these remarks to suggest my conclusion.

Off Year Tradition

Off year refers to the fact that we only travel to a Groundhog Day event every second year on even numbered years. On off years, we have a festive pancake breakfast usually out but this year at home. At least there were rapid replies to the many messages that come in on Groundhog Day.

And Finally

The real story about Groundhog Day this year was our collective safety. We are already looking forward to Groundhog Day 2022; it will be a smashing celebration.