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How To Attend This Year's Groundhog Day Festivities In Punxsutawney

Bill Murray is definitely showing his age since his appearance in the movie Groundhog Day, but the true hero of the holiday is Punxsutawney Phil; even without plastic surgery he’s looking great. Sure the holiday seems a little silly, but why not check it out in person to truly decide. We’re all for an early spring, so it might just be worth attending this year’s events on February 2.

If you want to rub elbows with Punxsutawney Phil it’s essential that you get to Gobbler’s Knob—that’s where his house is—as early as possible. Admission and parking are free, but the place opens up at 3:00am. There’s separate sections for both students and families, as we’re thinking the students probably had drink or two to help them make it through the night.

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Groundhog Day / Tourism Boards / VisitPA / → All Tags

Groundhog Day Report: It Will Be An Early, Viral Spring

Not that the real Groundhog Day can ever live up to the sliver screen version, but every year Punxsutawney Phil and 20,000 g-hog fans gather to see if global warming is for real this year. Good news for winter haters, reports out of Pennsylvania say Phil did not see his shadow this morning and printemps will be arriving early.

As for Visit PA, they went over the top with the G-hog Day promos this year. Check out Ground Hog Crossing if you want to hear the complex tale of Groundhog and Shadows plight across the country. We have embedded one episode above, you can catch the rest here, though in our opinion, VisitPA would have been more successful if they commissioned a stop motion animation special and posted it online (kind of like Rudolph). This Groundhog and Shadow thing seems way to complex and drawn out. Then again, when your whole tourism year focuses on a marmot at Gobbler's Knob, better milk it, right?

Oh, wow. Looks like not everyone is a fan of G-hog. For an alternate view of Ground Hog day, check out this piece--"Phil has a harem".

Related Stories:
· Groundhog Day [VisitPA.com]
· Groundhog Day [Jaunted]

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Bucktooth Bucks

Who knew a rodent could make for such a big business?

The poo-bahs of Punxsutawney, PA sure did. Tourists who might want to head there for the Groundhog Day Festival this year missed their opportunity--he saw his shadow--but anyone dead set on seeing the groundhog in action next year had better start planning early. The rodent-unveiling event itself draws about 35,000 people, impressive for a town with a population of 7,000.

The little burg is sweet to visit at non-rodent-centric times of the year as well. It's petite without being too touristy, for a company town, anyway. The Allegheny National Forest is nearby, and there's always the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center to, well, discover. It sounds enjoyably un-fussy;  there are groundhog-related tchotchkes to buy in town, yes, but it wasn't too long ago that the tradition was eating the groundhog for dinner, post-forecasting. Prediction: six more weeks of deliciousness.

[Image via nicelyroastedbeans/Flickr]