Punxsutawney Phil and Brethren Inspire Visions of Cold, Hard Cash

Groundhog Day is no longer the quaint old wives tale it once was. With groundhogs throughout the country like Punxsutawney Phil, Jimmy and Birmingham Bill competing for national attention and tourist dollars, Groundhog Day is big business.

The already famous Punxsutawney Phil, whose popularity surged when the movie Groundhog Day was released, has gone into hiding while Punxsutawney town officials prepare not merely for his February 2 prognositication of when winter will end but for a 4-day extravaganza involving massive souvenir sales, dining, drinking, dancing, music, and sales, sales, sales -- anything that can be tied to poor tired old Phil, who'd probably be just as happy snoozing in his den as panning for the cameras, is an occasion for commerce. Consider some of what Punxsutawney is offering in Punxsutawney Phil's name: Groundhog Wine Trail (Ever see a groundhog sip wine? No, didn't think so.); Groundhog Comedy Night Club (funny little groundhogs); Woodchuck Whittle Carving Show; Groundhog's Treasures and Craft Sale...Want to go for a Groundhog Jog? A Prognosicator's Ball?

By contrast to Punxsutawney Phil, Birmingham Bill lives in the Birmingham Zoo so doesn't stir up so much selling frenzy. But he does draw in zoo visitors for the zoo's Groundhog Day Celebration.

Jimmy the Groundhog is the marketing ploy of the Sun Prairie Groundhog Club and Chamber of Commerce. Sun Prairie has been trying to market itself as the ground hog capital of the world for some 50 years now, but seems to have run into a little competition from that Punxsutawney Phil guy. Sun Prairie's Jimmy invites his guests to a community breakfast, and souvenirs galore are available for purchase including tee shirts, water bottles, pennants, stickers and balloons, even chocolates made in Jimmy's image, something that surely leaves Punxsutawney Phil and Birmingham Bill pouting in their dens.

Punxsutawney Phil, Birmingham Bill and Jimmy the Groundhog are not the only furred meterologists poking their heads out of holes on February 2. Townsfolk in Ontario, Canada schedule an mammoth festival and parade to capitalize on their groundhog Wiarton Willie.

There's also Staten Island Chuck, a resident of the Staten Island Zoo, General Beau Lee, Ph.D. who draws visitors to the Yellow River Game Ranch, Dunkirk Dave who seems unique in his lack of commercialization, Shubenacadie Sam, the first groundhog of Canada, and PeeWee from Vermont.

And in this internet age, most of these groundhogs have their own webpages.

Sources: http://www.groundhog.org/, http://www.birminghamzoo.com/events.asp; http://www.sunprairiechamber.com/Groundhog-Day.109.0.html; http://www.groundhogcentral.com/; http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/famous_groundhogs/Famous_Groundhogs_Around_the_World.htm; http://www.yellowrivergameranch.com/08groundhogday.htm; http://www.dunkirkdave.com/;