‘You ain’t nothin’ but a groundhog’: Local treks to Punxsutawney for annual Groundhog Day festivities
Courtesy of Vanessa May
Vanessa May, right, and her friend Nikki Huntington pose at the iconic sign before venturing into the crowd at Gobbler’s Knob at Groundhog Day a few years ago. May has attended Punxsutawney Phil’s proclamation annually for eight years – and watched the ceremony on livestream in 2021, when the festival was canceled due to COVID-19.
Courtesy of Vanessa May
Vanessa May, right, and her friend Nikki Huntington gather around a fire before the Groundhog Day ceremony begins. The two traveled together to Gobbler’s Knob a few years ago.
A sign at Gobbler's Knob boasts Punxsutawney Phil's accuracy rate – which is, according to Stormfax Almanac, actually 39%.
Courtesy of Amber Hoffman
Amber Hoffman’s birthday wish came true: she’s celebrating 34 at Gobbler’s Knob with her friend, Vanessa May, today. Hoffman’s favorite movie is “Groundhog Day,” and she’s dreamed for years of attending the festival in Punxsutawney.
It’s Groundhog Day, again – and again, and again, and again.
At least, that’s how it goes for Phil Connors in “Groundhog Day,” the 1993 fantasy-comedy starring Bill Murray, that put little Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on the map.
“I’m proud of having done that,” said Danny Rubin, the screenwriter who penned the famous film. “Nobody expects to write a movie with that kind of reputation. I always have very high ambitions for the things that I write. It’s so rare that a movie comes out that it matches and even exceeds your ambitions. To have such a warm and long-lasting response from everybody – that’s awfully gratifying. That’s a rare thing in Hollywood, for a screenwriter to get that.”
Rare, too, is fame for a town of 6,000. Before Groundhog Day became an icon in American culture, Punxsutawney was a small, quiet town with a peculiar tradition.
Along with frankfurters, German immigrants brought with them to Pennsylvania the belief that animals, especially badgers, interrupt hibernation to celebrate Candlemas.
In 1887, a small crowd gathered at Gobbler’s Knob to watch a groundhog search for its shadow – and Groundhog Day was born.
Locals gathered annually at that hallowed site for a marmot’s prediction of early spring or extended winter.
But after Connors, the fictional Pittsburgh-based weatherman, lived Feb. 2 on repeat, Groundhog Day – the festival – caught on across the country.
“(The movie) had a great impact,” said Katie Laska, president of Punxsutawney’s Chamber of Commerce. “People were more aware of our holiday. When we get all these travelers, which we love, we become a little city for a day.”
The year after “Groundhog Day” hit theaters, Punxsutawney’s annual Groundhog Day celebration increased by 10,000 visitors. This year, Laska expects that many tourists at Gobbler’s Knob; it’s an “average” number, she said, for a mid-week celebration.
But according to records, the town welcomes upwards of 30,000 guests when Groundhog Day falls on a weekend.
Among the crowd this year is Amber Hoffman, of Belle Vernon, who headed north for the first time with her friend Vanessa May.
“(Groundhog Day)’s one of my favorite movies,” said Hoffman, who has watched the film every Feb. 2 – her birthday – for the last 17 years. “It’s like a tradition. It’s almost like the Christmas movie – it’s on 24 hours on Groundhog Day.”
For nearly two decades, Hoffman’s dreamed of being there when Punxsutawney Phil famously proclaims his weather prediction. Today, she and May will wait with bated breath for Phil to (fingers crossed!) declare an early spring.
“I’ve always wanted to go,” said Hoffman. “I’ve talked about it ever since I was little. I’m excited.”
So, too, is May, who makes the pilgrimage every year. This is her eighth Groundhog Day celebration at Gobbler’s Knob.
“My dad took me the first time,” said May, of Bloomfield. “My dad told me if I did well in school, he’d let me skip school and go to Punxsutawney for Groundhog Day. It’s so fun.”
Hoffman and May left Fayette County around 3 a.m. and planned to arrive at Gobbler’s Knob by 6. May said most Groundhog Day fanatics arrive well before sunrise for coffee, hot chocolate and conversation around bonfires.
Oh, and there’s singing. Lots of singing.
“It’s like a big groundhog concert,” May laughed. “Every year they do the same songs. They remix songs into being about groundhogs.”
Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” is a Gobbler’s Knob staple; folks shout, “You ain’t nothin’ but a groundhog,” while waiting for men in top hats to take the stage.
“They dress in these old-timey formal outfits and treat it like it’s a formal ceremony,” said Rubin, who enjoys the Groundhog Day celebrations. “It’s just an excuse to be silly in the middle of winter when you just sort of need a little pick-me-up.”
Phil’s Inner Circle, as the top hat-clad men are known, opens the ceremony with the national anthem, and then it’s time for the main attraction: Punxsutawney Phil’s prognostication.
“Seeing the groundhog. Every year, that’s the best part. They bring him out, I’m like, ‘Yes!'” said May. “Everybody’s just hyped up. It’s just so much excitement about a groundhog coming out. They speak Groundhog-ese to him. They talk to him in a groundhog language, which is kind of weird, but it’s kind of funny. People go crazy. People are so excited whenever it’s going to be an early spring.”
Before writing the screenplay, Rubin had never attended the festivities at Gobbler’s Knob.
“Bill Murray called me up and said, ‘Doesn’t it bother you that of the director and of the actor and of the writer, nobody’s been to the festival?'” Rubin said. So about three weeks before production began, he, Murray and the first assistant director flew out to see what all the fuss was about.
“I loved the whole thing because it was bizarre. That was the point,” Rubin laughed. ” It was lovely to discover the degree to which it was all tongue-in-cheek. A lot of new ideas came from having visited. It was really useful.”
Visiting Punxsutawney allowed Rubin to infuse some of the town’s flavor into his script. The excitement of Phil Connors’ iconic newscast is catching, and Groundhog Day is something Hoffman is looking forward to seeing in person.
“I’m just looking forward to the atmosphere – the excitement of him coming out to see his shadow or not,” she said. “Then the town has events throughout the day. It’s just a big to-do.”
Laska said the Chamber of Commerce is hosting a festival in the park, complete with vendors and live music, which Hoffman and May will certainly enjoy after they’ve ducked into the groundhog-themed diner where they’re hoping to snag a table and some lunch.
“There’s more than just the money that goes on with Groundhog Day,” Laska said. “Everybody forgets their problems. It’s so nice to see people just be happy … and laugh at silly things.”
Rubin agrees. The oddity of the holiday is what draws folks in, to both the town and the film – which the screenwriter ironically lived, in a way, five or six years ago, when he attended Groundhog Day with his son.
“There was a huge snowstorm. We couldn’t get out – again,” Rubin laughed.
Whether you’re a film fanatic or die-hard festival-goer, Groundhog Day is a celebration – of the end of winter and, in Hoffman’s case, another trip around the sun.
“It’s usually a topic at my birthday parties,” said Hoffman. “Everyone’s always, you know, bringing it up. It took 34 years, but I finally get to go.”