{"id":1014,"date":"2014-01-29T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-29T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1014"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:47:47","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:47:47","slug":"groundhog-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/01\/29\/groundhog-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundhog Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"1992: <\/a>
1992: Newspaper clipping, Bill Murray loses control of the groundhog (AP photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Charlie <\/a>
Charlie Erhard at the regal rodent’s heated haunt in Gobbler’s Knob, 1979 (James Klingensmith\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A Punxsutawney Phil fan goes shirtless in the near zero degree temperatures at Gobbler’s Knot (Matt Freed\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

This story keeps on living and there\u2019s nothing we can do about it. Every Feb. 2, it develops in the small Pennsylvania town of Punxsutawney like a never-ending replay of movie character Phil Connors\u2019 days. There can be only two outcomes: shadow or no shadow. And you never really know whether the dream of spring is going to arrive on time. But it is another year and \u201cGroundhog Day\u201d keeps coming back.<\/p>\n

If you tend to rely on your rational abilities, you surely have suspicions about the forecasting talent of a critter widely known as Punxsutawney Phil, the world\u2019s most famous groundhog weatherman. Most people, though, recognize Groundhog Day for what it is \u2014 a tradition and, as it is with many traditions, it\u2019s really hard to explain. Loyal fans don\u2019t even try; they simply invent new traditions for Groundhog Day such as watching the beloved film with Bill Murray called\u2026 well, you know it.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of ironic things that could be said about the film and one of the biggest ironies of all is that the film about the quintessentially Punxsutawney tradition was not even filmed in Punxsutawney. Certainly, the Bill Murray movie increased Punxsutawney\u2019s fame, but Woodstock, Ill., gets all the movie credits, including a plaque on the square where Phil Connors, Bill Murray\u2019s character, stepped into a puddle. Good thing information travels fast these days. Before Wikipedia and Google, there were more disappointed visitors in Punxsutawney. They came there to see the town where the movie was shot just to be turned away and sent to a different state.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that the famous Bill Murray hasn\u2019t been to Punxsutawney. In 1992, he joined a sizable crowd to observe the ceremony. The actor flew in from California to witness Groundhog Day with his own eyes before the filming began. The newspapers at that time didn\u2019t cover it extensively. In fact, we didn\u2019t even have staff photographs from the event, documenting Bill Murray\u2019s visit to the land of the groundhog. The Pittsburgh newspapers \u2014 neither the Post-Gazette nor The Pittsburgh Press \u2014 assigned a staff writer or photographer to that story, instead they chose to rely on reports and art from the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The AP story said that on the day Bill Murray was in Punxsutawney, \u201cthe reluctant critter was pulled from his burrow at 7:20 a.m. and a representative from the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club told a crowd of about 3,000 people that the groundhog had \u2018whispered\u2019 to him that he has seen his shadow. The crowd cheered and then booed at the news of more cold weather.\u201d The photo for the story ran with a caption, \u201cActor Bill Murray loses control of the groundhog.\u201d Later that day, it was announced that in the upcoming movie, Bill Murray is going to play a TV reporter assigned to cover Groundhog Day.<\/p>\n

We know how Bill Murray\u2019s character hated it. And the same can be said of reporters across Pennsylvania. They dread to be assigned to cover Groundhog Day. As one of our librarians put it, \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely the worst story to be assigned to \u2026 \u201c<\/p>\n

“OK, campers, rise and shine, and don\u2019t forget your booties \u2018cause it\u2019s coooold out there today.”<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see what Phil says in a few days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story keeps on living and there\u2019s nothing we can do about it. <\/p>\n

Look at the picturesGroundhog Day<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[948],"tags":[1033,1044],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/tumblr_n04qe5XWdN1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C1000&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1949,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/03\/20\/celebrating-springs-arrival-in-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":1014,"position":0},"title":"Celebrating spring\u2019s arrival in Pittsburgh","date":"March 20, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"According to the calendar, today, March 20, 2013, is the first official day of spring.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/tumblr_mjxtck8WXd1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=793%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9302,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/12\/24\/pittsburgh-christmas-photos-old-traditions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1014,"position":1},"title":"Photos from Pittsburgh’s Christmases past","date":"December 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Christmas is a holiday of traditions, and every city has its own. 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