Groundhog Days 2010-- Part 1

January 29th.

After leaving McHenry, I drove straight to Woodstock and parked alongside the historic town square and waited 15 minutes for the "Awakening of the Groundhog" to take place. It was way too cold to stand out in the elements any longer than necessary.

The square was ablaze in white Italian lights on the trees, gazebo and Spring House. A line of larger white lights are on the precipices of the buildings all along the square, making for a festive, Christmas scene.

About thirty people braved the elements. The emcee said that this event used to be called the "Lighting of the Groundhog" but that PETA had complained so the name was changed. I don't know whether this is true or not. We were
asked where folks came from and we had one couple from South Carolina and another who came in from California. The emcee wanted to know why they would be here in the cold instead of the warmer climes.

At 6 pm sharp, two sets of continuous fireworks went off and as they died down, there was the guest of honor, none other than Woodstock Willie waving to us. This Woodstock Willie is a person dressed in a groundhog suit.

He came down and posed for photos with folks.

We were then invited to come inside the Stage Left Cafe for a trivia contest. And these questions were hard, even for a Groundhog Day fan like myself. One question was who was supposed to play Phil Connors before Bill Murray. Answer: Tom Hanks. Another question was how many days was Phil "stuck" on February 2nd and the answer was 34. I'd have to disagree because I distinctly remember Phil telling Rita that it had taken him six months to be able to toss every card into the hat.

Dinner Dance Next. --RoadDog