[ A version of this post appeared last year, it has been edited and updated for 2019 with new material and a new picture]
I have a long family history with Punxsutawney, PA, the home of Punxsutawney Phil, the world’s most famous groundhog. For many years, the men on my father’s side of the family had an old school bus, circa 1951, parked on a piece of land outside of the town of Punxsutawney that was used for deer hunting in the fall. My great uncles originally parked the bus there, after the man who owned the property invited them to leave it the bus there year round after it broke down one year. My great uncles were handy and industrious men and they outfitted “The Bus”, as it was known, with bunk beds, electricity, and even a stove so it would be comfortable in late November.
In the summer, my dad would make a few trips a season up to “The Bus”, to mow the grass and check on it. It was a hunting cabin of sorts for my dad, his cousins, and uncles. Sometimes, he would bring me and my sisters to “The Bus” and we would “help” with the mowing during the summer. My dad taught us to hunt when we became of hunting age, but we never really took to it the way he did, so we never hunted there on the first day of Buck Season the way he did. Once, one of my sisters, my dad, and I even camped overnight in the bus during the summer, since the bus was located about two hours away from our house. After cutting the grass we played in a nearby creek and cut my foot on a glass bottle, whoops. I know my father is a little embarrassed to remember that incident but mostly I remember the fun time we had on that outing and our trip to Pizza Hut later that evening.
But it was not on one of these trips that I met Punxsutawney Phil. I met Phil in the summer of 2012 when I worked as the Children’s Librarian at the Centre County Library which is located about an hour and half away from Punxsutawney, not a short distance in my opinion.
At the time I wrote the e-mail to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, which is more commonly referred to as the Inner Circle, I doubted I would get a response much less a “yes, we will be there”. Yet this is just what happened!
When Phil and his people agree to come to your event, they give you a date and a time, if I remember correctly, and you made it work with your schedule. I believe the organization is fully volunteer staffed so it can be hard to get in touch with the powers that be. When I received a phone call in March of 2012 that Phil would be coming to my library to do a program as part of our Summer Reading program I felt like the luckiest librarian in the world.
So this is how I found myself in July of 2012 with a packed community room full of children and their parents waiting to meet the famous Punxsutawney Phil. We learned that our presenters that day, Ron and Jason, were teachers during the school year and spent their summers doing presentations with Phil around the Punxsutawney area.
We also learned that every year on Groundhog’s Day, February 2nd, Phil comes out of his hole in the ground and whispers in Groundhog-ease to the President of the Inner Circle. Only the President of the Inner Circle understands Phil and can translate. The president, in his top hat and fancy clothes lets the public know if spring will be coming soon or if we will have 6 more weeks of winter.
We also learned that the Inner Circle has been celebrating Groundhog Day since 1887 and the Phil we know and love is the original Phil. Every few years he drinks a special Elixir that helps him maintain his health and vitality. Thus there has never been another Phil.
It was a great presentation that was well received and he were even given a few special souvenirs of the day such as the special groundhog coin I included below.
Here are some pictures from that day:
Did you ever meet a special Groundhog? My friend Lindy has a great relationship with Harleysville Hank. Read about him by clicking here.
Have you ever met a special Groundhog? If so reply below.
