Ah yes, today is the long-awaited, strangely popular Groundhog Day. Good ole Punxsutawney Phil, who lives in the town library by the way, predicts our weather’s fate courtesy of his shadow (or lack there of).

When I was in college at IUP, Groundhog Day somehow happened to be this major deal. Surely it must’ve been because it gave Western PA its annual 15 minutes of fame. I remember during my freshman year some of my dorm mates traveled via shuttle up to Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsy for the legendary event. I opted to stay behind, which was smart because some of them were slammed with underage drinking citations.

Groundhog statue pic taken from the car

It wasn’t until my junior year that I actually traveled to Punxsy–and no it wasn’t to see the rodent. My friends and I drove through the town en route to Dubois and they made a special stop just for me because, being an Eastern PA girl, I had never been there before. We took a few photos and ran over to the library to catch a quick glimpse of Phil himself then hopped back into the car. Sort of like the artsy donkeys scattered around the Valley, in Punxsy you’ll find, appropriately enough, artsy groundhogs.

Unfortunately for me, and those who loathe winter, Phil saw his shadow this morning and predicted six more weeks of winter. Or, to put it in better terms, six more weeks until spring. That sounds so much nicer, right? We’ll see…