Punxsutawney Phil faces down Groundhog Day rivals
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pennsylvania (Reuters): Punxsutawney Phil, the pudgy woodchuck that forecasts spring's arrival each year on Groundhog Day, may face an uncertain future in an ever-crowded field of weather-prognosticating rodents, promoters fear.
The world-famous critter, who emerges every Feb. 2 from a burrow on Gobblers Knob near Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to look for his shadow, now shares the limelight with more than a half- dozen wily rivals, from General Beauregard Lee of Georgia to Canada's Wiarton Willie and New York's Staten Island Chuck.
That's not counting Essex Ed of West Orange, New Jersey, or Phil and Corona Kate of the Queens Wildlife Center, who have all joined the fray within the past few years.
"The list keeps growing," lamented Barbara Chaffee, Pennsylvania's deputy secretary of tourism and marketing.
The rivalry from Johnny-come-latelies is so stiff that SmartMoney magazine published a Groundhog Day table this month, ranking Phil as top dog in a field of five, based on a spokesperson's claim of 100 percent accuracy over 114 years. More independent analysts put his success rate at 59 percent.
"The more successful you are, the more people want to jump on the bandwagon," said Punxsutawney Phil's handler, Bill Deeley. "But I'm all in favor of free enterprise. The more competition, the better. It keeps everybody honest and lets the healthy survive."
Phil's promoters, who liken him to a furry golden goose of tourism revenues, aim to leave the competition in the dust this year by displaying his prognosticating performance live at New York's Times Square on Friday morning.
Phil and Deeley, attired in his official handler's black-tie and top hat, will appear on Times Square's giant Panasonic Astrovision screen.
"We and our competitors all advertise. We all do TV and print. So we're looking for ways to get beyond the clutter," said Chaffee, who helps oversee Pennsylvania's $17 million marketing budget.
If a groundhog casts a shadow on Groundhog Day, winter supposedly will last another six weeks. No shadow means an early spring, according to a custom brought to the New World by German immigrants who originally used hedgehogs as seasonal barometers during the winter festival known as Candlemas Day.
A boost
Groundhog Day brings thousands of tourists and a welcome economic boost to the tiny western Pennsylvania hamlet of Punxsutawney, about 90 miles (145 km) northeast of Pittsburgh.
State officials say it also has helped to distinguish Pennsylvania in the sweepstakes for tourism revenue, giving the state precious notoriety at a time when many people are beginning to plan their summer vacations.
The 1993 Hollywood movie "Groundhog Day," starring Bill Murray, turned the annual custom into a world phenomenon, bringing media coverage from as far away as Europe and Asia. And Phil's promoters have been hatching new ways to keep the momentum alive ever since.
"Global growth means global competition," Chaffee said.
Not that Phil is any stranger to competition. His old buddy Jimmy the Groundhog of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, has been publishing rival spring forecasts for more than 50 years.
But Phil's handlers are taking no chances. This week, they even got him up early from hibernation for a promotional trip to New York and cameo appearances on U.S. network television.
Success also has its price. Organizing a fete that is witnessed in person by 20,000 tourists and journalists, and seen on television by untold numbers of viewers, is a grueling task for volunteers from the tiny rural community of 6,800 people.
"It's not just a day-before and day-after event anymore," said Deeley, whose family owns a funeral home in Punxsutawney.
"I can't say it's a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week type thing. But it's now live TV. There are more and more folks coming in. There's more and more preparation that goes into it. And we all have other jobs. That's the thing."