Episode published: Friday 01/12/2024
Michael: Hi, and welcome to episode three of Every Day is Groundhog Day (Except for the Days When It's Not), I am your host, Michael. In the first episode of this podcast, I mentioned that there are a large number of groundhogs who provide Groundhog Day predictions who aren't named Punxsutawney Phil. Last week, we spoke about one of them, Woodstock Willie. You might also remember that in that first episode, I talked about how a lot of Groundhog Day forecasters aren't even groundhogs. Well, today we're going to be talking about one of these non-groundhog Groundhog Day prognosticators.
Sylvia predicts the weather on Groundhog Day in Apex, North Carolina in a similar fashion to Punxsutawney Phil or Woodstock Willie. If Sylvia sees her shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter, if not it will be an early spring. The only difference is that Sylvia is an armadillo. To discuss Sylvia, the Apex Armadillo, I reached out to the Mayor of Apex, Jacques Gilbert, who is the originator of Apex's Groundhog Day tradition. Sylvia has only been prognosticating for a few years but has already become a beloved part of the community. Here's the interview!
Michael: So, I'm here today speaking with Mayor Jacques Gilbert from Apex, North Carolina. Welcome, Mayor Gilbert.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Thank you so much, Michael. It's a pleasure to be here.
Michael: Thank you so much for doing the interview. So, in Apex, there's an armadillo who provides a Groundhog Day prediction and has been doing so for the past couple of years. This armadillo is named Sylvia, correct?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: That's correct.
Michael: I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about Sylvia and what her prediction ceremony is like. I have a number of questions, but you might answer them when you give this background.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Absolutely, yeah. So, we get excited about Sylvia, the Apex Armadillo, and it has been three years now that we have been using Sylvia for Groundhog Day in Apex, which is a suburb of Raleigh. When I got elected as mayor, I was looking for a unique opportunity to bring a Groundhog Day ceremony to our town. Historically we have never had one and I noticed that some of the other towns and cities around us had a formal ceremony, and we didn't have one. So, I actually searched around for a groundhog, and I was unsuccessful, no one could provide me with one. I even asked the town of Garner if we could use their groundhog, they could have theirs earlier and we could use theirs after and they said absolutely not, we can't.
So, I was like, okay we've got to get creative here. So, I had a friend of mine do a search around and we found an armadillo in a really small rural town called Coats, North Carolina, from a place called Animal EDventures. The first year, what we ended up doing, it was actually during COVID, we had it outside the Apex Depot in our downtown area and invited residents to come and enjoy the time. We had quite a few people show up. Then the second year, there were a lot of kids during COVID because school was out. In the second year, not a good number of people because the children were back in school. So, the third, last year, my daughter had this idea, why don't we take it to a different school each year? So, really huge turnout, it was really highly anticipated by our first elementary school. So, that's what we do. We do it just like the other groundhog ceremonies, we introduce the audience to Sylvia and then we do the prediction.
Michael: Great! I think that does answer a number of my questions. I was wondering why an armadillo and not a groundhog, but I see that, as you said, you had difficulty finding one. I know that here in New Jersey, that's where I'm from, there was a groundhog called Milltown Mel and I think they've had two Milltown Mels over the last 10-15 years and the most recent one passed away in, I guess, 2021 or 2022. So, they weren't able to get one that year because it was right before Groundhog Day. And then this past year, I guess they couldn't get the paperwork correct or something like that. So, it's not always as easy as you might think to get a groundhog for Groundhog Day. Milltown, the past two years, hasn't had one.
So, is Sylvia the name that the armadillo came with, or did you come up with that yourself?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Actually, Sylvia is the armadillo's name. I will add to this, in "The Peak of Good Living," that's our tagline for Apex, we were looking for something different anyway. Once we couldn't find the groundhog we were like, well this was all set up for us anyway. We always like to be different in Apex. But yes, Sylvia is her name and we also looked at the design of the armadillo and how they have the peak in the back. Again, we're known as "The Peak of Good Living," and it really just connected well with our town. So, it's been quite the discussion and the media picked up on it and we get a lot of exposure as well.
Michael: That's great. I do like the different variations on the theme, like, not just groundhogs. You have chickens and dogs and stuff like that so it's cool to see something different. So, what can you tell me about Apex? What's the population? I've never been to North Carolina. So, what's the weather like there when Sylvia predicts more winter or less winter? What's the weather that you're looking at or hoping for if you're having an early spring?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Sure, sure. So, I would say, to give you a little geographical reference of Apex, it's again, a suburb of Raleigh. We're about 20 minutes from Raleigh, North Carolina and we're two hours from the beach, the coast, and about three hours from the mountains. So, we are set pretty well; the seasons are great here. You just wake up and you have to predict what the weather is going to be, sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's real hot, sometimes there's a chill. I like that part about Apex and North Carolina in general. I'm a native of Apex, by the way, it's my hometown. But Sylvia, so far, I'm always hoping for an early spring and Sylvia actually is 3-0. Based on our predictions, she's 3-0.
Michael: Yeah, I think I saw long winter for the first two predictions and early spring for last year? Is that correct?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Yes, that's correct.
Michael: Okay, and what's cold for you there?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Oh man, that's a good question. So, in Apex, North Carolina, cold is I would say, anything around 30 degrees, that's cold for us, anything under 30°. But everything else is pretty bearable. We're a little spoiled here.
Michael: Okay. And what's, like, average in the winter?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Average in the winter, you're looking at a high of 44°, 45°. Somewhere in there.
Michael: All right, not too bad. We're a little colder than you, here. We're talking, you know, maybe single digits or 10s on our cold days. Sounds a little more moderate, nice weather.
So, I found at least one, or actually I think I found two of your previous prediction ceremonies and it looks like you hold us Sylvia to music from The Lion King. Is that part of it every year?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Oh yes, sir, that's correct. People get a kick out of that, especially those who have never attended the ceremony. When we play that track it gets a lot of laughs and gets people engaged. [clip of the start of Apex's ceremony plays]
Michael: So, you said the first two years you had it at the Depot, and last year you had it at an elementary school. And your plan is, you said, to move it around every year, the ceremony?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: That's correct. So now, what happened as a result of us doing it at the one elementary school, we had a bigger crowd, more students. We actually had to do it in the gym. We started the actual event inside the gym with all the students because it was raining. As soon as we started the event, it stopped raining, so I simply just walked to the side door and they played the music, the soundtrack, and then I held Sylvia up and then there the prediction was. Ideally, we would do it outside but last year, the weather wasn't permitting, and the principal wanted to keep everybody inside.
Michael: So, how many schools are there in the area?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Oh man, we have a total of eight elementary schools, six middle schools, two high schools. We obviously wouldn't do it at the high schools, we'll keep it at the elementary school level. So, every elementary school now has been calling me like, "We want Sylvia on Groundhog Day." So, I think I'm going to have to put all the school names in a hat at this point and draw.
Michael: Oh wow, awesome. Yeah, you could be doing it for what's that, like, fifteen years or so without repeating a school. That's great.
So, you said you had asked Garner about their groundhog. Now, is that Snerd?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Yes, Snerd dissed us in Apex, Snerd said no. We were like, "That's fine Snerd, you have your conference zones, so we will just come back with something even better, Sylvia." [chuckles]
Michael: Yeah, so I know there's at least one groundhog somewhere in New York who I think they did do that with where it was one name early in the morning and a different name later in the day. So, it's not without precedence but it sounds like you got a better deal anyway, this is a little more unique. [clip of Apex's ceremony prognostication] So, you said Sylvia is from EDventure? Animal EDventure? What's the name that...?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Yes, it's called Animal EDventures, like education, in Coats, North Carolina. Really great group, they have a lot of animals that have been rescued and you go down there, it's kind of like a therapy area and you take kids, they do camps, it's pretty extraordinary. That's where Sylvia, that's her home, she comes to Apex a couple of times a year, obviously for Groundhog Day. But we also will have her for one of our main events because she is now our official mascot so we've got to make sure that people can see Sylvia and show her love.
Michael: So, she lives at Animal EDventure when she's not doing Groundhog Day or any of these events.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: That's right.
Michael: So, you do bring her around now, maybe to special events?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Actually yeah, we want to do more of that. Of course, we have to work with the great folks at Animal EDventures to make sure we're not being a burden to them. But for example, this is Apex's 150th birthday, so our sesquicentennial, and we have one more event to go. Obviously, since Sylvia is now our mascot, we want to bring her in so people can... It's a historic moment, right, so it would be cool to record this and put it into the vault so people will see it at the bicentennial.
Michael: You mentioned Snerd, it looks like from my research, it looks like there are a number of other Groundhog Day forecasters in North Carolina. Do you have any rivalries with anybody? Sounds like maybe now you have reason to have a rivalry with Snerd at least.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: [laughs] Yes, in fact, the mayor of Garner and I were having a discussion before last year's event and he actually did his prediction, they did it on the local news and then I called him and said, "You guys got it wrong, and we'll see about it." So yeah, it was a little fun rivalry there, little banter. So, we'll keep that going, yup.
Michael: Yeah, that seems to be a tradition with the forecasters, they'll have rivalries with some of the other ones; Punxsutawney Phil, and some of the other Pennsylvania ones.
So, you said earlier that you're the originator of the Groundhog Day tradition with Sylvia, correct?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Yes, I am the originator. We had never done that before in Apex based on our research looking at all of the minutes, the records of Apex. So, it's something I started in my first year in office for the town.
Michael: And obviously, you plan on continuing to do it for the foreseeable future?
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Absolutely. Yes, sir. We're getting excited about the next one.
Michael: All right. I think that's mainly what I had. If there's anything else that you wanted to say about Sylvia, Apex, anything. I know you were just busy right now; I could probably talk to you about being a mayor for a while.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Yes, it's a little busy. You know, I think I mentioned before, we're a town of about 75,000, maybe I didn't cover that before, and we're projected to double in the next ten years because it's a very attractive area and it was ranked as #1 best place to live in 2015 so we're just seeing a lot of people move in. The reason I bring that up is because we have this whole small-town character, people love the small-town feel of Apex. I thought this would be another way to engage more people in our town but also to accentuate that small-town feel that we have and having Groundhog Day would actually help with that. So, certainly, something I think is really cool, we'll continue to do it. The last thing I want to say is that we've got to get you to Apex so that you can experience it as well. [laughs]
Michael: Absolutely. I'll have to figure out when I can do it.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: I'm just saying, whenever you do, we got you, man. We'll take care of you, roll out the red carpet for you.
Michael: Thanks, I appreciate it. I think more and more places should have Groundhog Day celebrations, I think it's a great way to get people out, at least up here, in cold weather. A little less cold down there but still cold.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: That's right.
Michael: So, definitely I will have to try and figure out a time if I can get down there for some future Groundhog Day or time around then to check it out.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: Well, just let me know. We'll take care of you. I'd also like to add, we do a live Facebook event from our town page when we do this. And then not last year, because we were in a school, but the year prior to, WRAL did it live for us. So, it was pretty cool.
Michael: Well, I really appreciate your time. Thanks for talking to us about Groundhog Day and Sylvia. I look forward to seeing more of Sylvia in the future and I'll definitely be checking out the prediction come February.
Mayor Jacques Gilbert: All right, sounds good. Talk soon.
Michael: All right, thanks so much.
And that's the interview. Thanks again to Mayor Jacques Gilbert for speaking to me about Sylvia, the Apex Armadillo. I look forward to finding out what Sylvia predicts this year.
Over at CountdownToGroundhogDay.com our art contest is still going on. As of this recording, we still haven't received any entries so if you submitted something right now, you'd have a pretty good chance of winning something. You have until January 23rd to get your submissions in. A link to information about the contest is in the show notes. Also on Countdown To Groundhog Day, we've got a bunch of Groundhog Day-related Cameos from celebrities including William Hung and Groundhog Day actor, Robin Duke. We've just added a Cameo from popular comedian Yakov Smirnoff. Visit the website to check them out.
Remember, we also have a list of public Groundhog Day ceremonies for 2024. Right now, we're tracking about 30 events, but I expect that number to grow as we get closer to Groundhog Day. If you go to one of these ceremonies, we'd love to hear about your experience and see photos or videos of the event. That's it! Hope you enjoyed today's episode.
Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to the podcast so far. We have a few ratings and one really nice review on iTunes. LifeLongLearner24 said:
Fascinating, adorable, and fun. Highly recommend this fascinating dive into the history and culture of this lesser-known holiday.
Thanks, LifeLongLearner24. I'm glad you're enjoying the podcast.
Music for the show was written by the funtastic Breakmaster Cylinder. The show artwork is by Tom Mike Hill. If you want to learn more about Groundhog Day visit CountdownToGroundhogDay.com. Any feedback or voice messages can be sent to Podcast@CountdownToGroundhogDay.com. We're also going to be providing transcripts for all of our episodes, they'll generally be posted a few days after each episode airs so if you don't see a transcript for an episode, check back in a few days. Thanks to Aveline Malek at TheWordary.com for providing the transcripts.
Thanks for listening, talk to you next week!
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Transcribed by Aveline Malek at TheWordary.com