One-Tank Trip
for Jan. 27/18
(c) By Jim Fox
Wee Wiarton Willie
has his work cut out for him this year.
The “wee” two-year-old
albino groundhog has been job shadowing the previous weather prognosticator
preparing for his big debut.
That takes place
next Friday (Feb. 2) when the wee one, also known as Wiarton Willie IV, succeeds
Willie III who died last September at age 13 (not bad for groundhogs).
 |
| Willie’s weather predictions are made with much fanfare. |
They mourned the marmot with a memorial
service beside the white limestone statue called “Willie Emerging” in Bluewater
Park.
Ironically, he was
predeceased a month earlier by Mac McKenzie, 90, called the “founding father of
the Wiarton Willie legend” in 1956.
The pressure will
be on Wee Willie and his “Shadow Cabinet” to make some sense out of this crazy
winter weather.
It has produced
prolonged Arctic cold followed by the current unseasonably warm spell.
South Bruce
Peninsula of which Wiarton is a part calls Willie the “the most famous
groundhog in Canada and the only albino weather prognosticator in the world.”
Chilly Willie
Groundhog Day is
known as Prediction Morning in Wiarton, starting with the Wake up Willie event
and fireworks at 7 a.m. in Bluewater Park.
 |
| Wiarton is said to have the only albino weather prognosticator in the world. |
This will help
awaken the wee one from his sleepy hibernation, just briefly, to go to work.
Last year, Willie
predicted an early spring and in 2016, a longer winter.
There is a week of
festival activities leading up to this day with much pomp and ceremony.
Entertainment begins
at 7:15 a.m. on the outdoor stage and a free pancake breakfast at the Wiarton
Arena.
Willie will be
joined by his cabinet, the Queen of the Festival and her court, the
McLaren Pipe and Drum Band and the town crier.
Willie’s official prediction
takes place at precisely 8:07 a.m. and is a “news event that captures the interests
of people around the world,” the town says.
Folklore
According to the
folklore of Groundhog Day, if it is cloudy when
Willie emerges from his burrow, then spring will come early.
If it turns out to
be sunny and Willie sees his shadow, then winter weather can be expected to
continue for six more weeks.
 |
| Wiarton lost both Wiarton Willie III and Mac McKenzie, founder of the festival, last year. |
It’s a “mid-winter
celebration involving an animal with predictive powers that was an element of
Celtic culture,” Wikipedia explains.
The link between
weather prediction and the day is said to have been inspired by an old Scottish
couplet: “If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there’ll be two winters in the
year.”
Willie has some
swanky accommodations for a groundhog with his home specially designed by
the Toronto Zoo.
It’s in the park
outside the Chamber of Commerce office and Dockside Willie’s Restaurant.
Willie also makes
public appearances from May to September to the delight of visitors.
The origin of the
festival began 62 years ago with the prankster McKenzie who wanted to have a
party for his closest friends.
He sent out a press
release inviting them to Wiarton for Groundhog Day to break the winter doldrums
and have a little fun.
It turns out a lone
reporter from Toronto also showed up and was directed to the local “watering
hole,” the Arlington Hotel, where Mac and his friends were found.
But, there was no
groundhog for a photo.
So Mac threw his
wife’s fur hat into a burrow in the snow and posed with it.
The shot was taken
and published, and the rest is history.
More information: southbrucepeninsula.com; (519)
534-1400
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at onetanktrips@hotmail.com
For more One-Tank Trips: http://1tanktrips.blogspot.ca
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