Episode published: Friday 01/05/2024
Michael: Hi, and welcome to the second episode of Every Day is Groundhog Day (Except for the Days When It's Not). I'm your host, Michael. In the last episode, I gave you a high-level overview of the origin and history of Groundhog Day. During that discussion, I mentioned that there are a large number of Groundhog Day forecasters and that it's not just Punxsutawney Phil who provides a prediction on February 2nd, as many people may think. A big part of why I wanted to start this podcast was to shine a spotlight on those other prognosticators. So, today we're going to be talking about Woodstock Willie and we have an interview with Willie's handler, Melissa McMahon, that was recorded in the fall that I'll be playing for you shortly.
As we'll discuss in the interview, Woodstock is a town in Illinois that was used to stand in for Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in the movie Groundhog Day. That's right, the Punxsutawney that you see Phil Connors wandering around in is not the actual Punxsutawney. If you went to Punxsutawney, it would look a whole lot different. After the movie was filmed, Woodstock embraced their association with the film and started their own Groundhog Day tradition which has grown into a pretty big celebration. Just like Punxsutawney Phil, Woodstock Willie predicts how much more winter we're going to get based on whether or not they see their shadow. We're going to talk about all this and more, so without further ado here's the interview.
Michael: So, Woodstock Willie is a groundhog that has been prognosticating on Groundhog Day since, I believe, sometime in the mid-1990s in Woodstock, Illinois. Woodstock is also the city where the movie Groundhog Day was primarily filmed and also there is an annual celebration called Woodstock Groundhog Days. Today I am here speaking with Melissa McMahon who is a Woodstock Groundhog Days committee member, and also Woodstock Willie's handler. So, welcome Melissa.
Melissa McMahon: Thanks for having me!
Michael: No problem. So, I guess there's probably a lot to talk about. Woodstock is an important city in the history of Groundhog Day, as it is the city where Groundhog Day was filmed. I was thinking maybe we could start talking about Woodstock Willie himself, get a little idea...
Melissa McMahon: Themselves.
Michael: Oh, themselves. Okay, sorry. Woodstock Willie, themselves.
Melissa McMahon: It's a new development that we do refer to Woodstock Willie as they/them because, behind the curtain, there are a number of volunteers that make Woodstock Willie appear, so to be respectful of all of those volunteers, we refer to Willie as a they. Willie can range from about 5-foot to 5-foot-7 on any given day, sometimes a little taller but not often. And really, they're a mascot for our entire city, not just for Groundhog Days, for that festival. We're there each and every day of that but Willie often shows up throughout the year at various community events.
Michael: Okay, so there is a mascot Woodstock Willie. Is there also a groundhog Woodstock Willie?
Melissa McMahon: There is indeed. On February 2nd at the prognostication ceremony, Woodstock Willie, whose real name is actually Wendy, comes out with their handler Mark and Mark actually has a tie to the original movie. Mark was working with the animal handler company, and I can't remember the name of the company, but he was working with the owner of that company who provided the actual groundhog for the filming of the movie. That particular groundhog, as they have a shorter lifespan, is no longer with us but Wendy, Mark now runs the company and Wendy comes out every February 2nd, much to her chagrin because they are usually hibernating that time of year so it's like getting woken up on the wrong side of the bed. But Wendy comes out, acts as Woodstock Willie, comes out of their stump, and predicts our weather.
Michael: So, how long has Wendy been Woodstock Willie?
Melissa McMahon: I believe Wendy is coming on four or five years now.
Michael: Four or five years. So, there have been multiple?
Melissa McMahon: There have been a few, yes. I believe the lifespan of an actual groundhog is anywhere from 6 to 8 or something? But I don't know exactly. But yeah, Wendy has been with us for a few years, and we hope for a few more. If not, Mark the handler will have one for us.
Michael: And you said Mark was a handler on the movie?
Melissa McMahon: Mm-hm, yup!
Michael: Okay. So, I think I had heard somewhere that maybe there was a link to that original groundhog. Do you know if there's any relation between Wendy and the original groundhog on the movie? Or is that...?
Melissa McMahon: That might be an urban legend, but it could be true, it could be true. I mean, it is the same handler all these years so perhaps they have kept the lifeline going there but I cannot confirm or deny that.
Michael: Okay, then I guess could you talk a bit about Woodstock Groundhog Days? What happens there? What kind of events go on?
Melissa McMahon: Yeah, absolutely. So, the festival itself... Going back just a little bit, the movie was filmed in Woodstock in 1992, released in theaters in 1993. Beginning in 1995 there was a committee of citizens who had participated in the movie and also, with our education foundation decided, hey, let's have a party. So, those first couple of years was actually just a one-off event on February 2nd, it was like a breakfast and it kind of started to snowball.
So now, nearly thirty years later almost, give or take, we have a festival. That festival range depends on where February 2nd falls. Doesn't matter if February 2nd is a Wednesday, or a Tuesday, a Saturday, we always have the prognostication on February 2nd. Where that falls in the week will determine how long our festival goes. This year, in 2024, we will have the welcoming of Woodstock Willie on February 1st, I believe it's a Thursday evening, and then February 2nd our prognostication, and then we have fun all weekend long. We'll have events all day Saturday and Sunday. A highlight of that is our local theater, Classic Cinemas, here in Woodstock will show the movie and they'll put it on a couple of screens. It's sometimes the first opportunity some fans have had to see that on the big screen, so they love that. That's often held in the Harold Ramis Theater, which was dedicated to the director of the movie, Harold Ramis, when they did a total renovation a few years ago.
Michael: Yeah, I don't think I had heard that about the Harold Ramis Theater. Is it, like, is it playing over and over again or is it just a few showings?
Melissa McMahon: Generally, they do a one-time showing each day. Whether it's evening or daytime, they'll show it then. But then throughout the town, you're going to find events all over. Many of them have a charity aspect. Ortmann's Tavern, which is right near the movie theater, hosts a bags tournament; even in February, everyone is outside having a bags tournament, and all of the proceeds and donations go to the Woodstock Food Pantry. So, it's a great tie-in with our other organizations.
The walking tour is a fan favorite. Many of our sites from the movie are all plaqued and we also have, in conjunction with the city of Woodstock, these wonderful news lines out that have a QR code that will lead you to the walking tour video that we did with Bob Hudgins, the original location manager, many years ago. But that walking tour, on the weekend of the festival is a guided tour, so we hold that once a day. And even Bob Hudgins himself comes out and leads that tour once in a while; I think he's come back every year almost and does at least one of the ones for the weekend. So, he's got some great behind-the-scenes stories. If you do the tour with Bob, it's going to be an amazing experience but dress warmly because you'll be outside for a long time; he loves to talk, and he's got stories about everyone from the cast and crew that he shares.
Michael: That sounds fun. That leads me to another question. What is the weather like in Woodstock? So, if Woodstock Willie is predicting a long winter or early spring, what are average temperatures?
Melissa McMahon: Well, you know with weather, I would say in the last couple of years, it's hard to predict. I think just three or four Groundhog Days ago, I didn't even need a jacket. Last year, we were freezing, you know, "Don't forget your booties, it's cold out there," is not just a line from the movie. So really, it could go lots of different ways. Dress for warm, you can always take off layers. But generally, regardless, I think in the time since 1995, the prognostication has only been canceled once and that was due to a blizzard. I believe the year is 2011 and there was so much snow no one could get anywhere. That is the only year it has been canceled. Otherwise, sun or snow or rain or cold, we go on. The show goes on.
Michael: And do you have an estimate on how many people usually come out? I imagine it's...
Melissa McMahon: It can get pretty crowded and it's great. A lot depends on what day of the week it falls on; if it falls on a Tuesday and Wednesday, we're looking at maybe about 2,000 people. When it happens on a weekend, and this year 2024 will be on a Friday, so I imagine our numbers will be up again. But we've ranged anywhere really from 1,200 people to 3,000 people on that morning and many more will come and go throughout the weekend. The best part is, lots of people will come, lots of people will get personal experience, they'll meet somebody else or something, but we have visitors come from around the world. It's pretty typical to come across somebody from another country, we've got a family from Germany, and almost every other year they come out. We've got fans from everywhere, it's very evident, we will live cast the prognostication ceremony on our Facebook page, through our website, all that kind of stuff, and we will have comments of, "Hey, I'm Hawaii watching. I'm in Australia." People from around the globe will check into the live feed if they don't happen to be there. But we have visitors come from all over.
Michael: And is it difficult to find hotel rooms or lodging around that time? Does it get really packed or are you usually okay?
Melissa McMahon: I would not wait until January 30th to reserve a room. Generally, our local inns in town, hotels will be booked, but we have neighboring towns and people will stay all around. Now, if you want to stay at the bed and breakfast, the Cherry Tree Bed and Breakfast, it is the exact same from the movie, the bed and breakfast that Phil Connors, Bill Murray, stays at in the movie, is still in our town and still operating as a bed and breakfast with amazing hosts. That, I believe, it's usually a two-year reservation.
Michael: Waiting list? Oh wow.
Melissa McMahon: Yeah, there's a waitlist for that one, to stay in the home. But they do do tours through the weekend and there are people year-round. The best part is that year-round, people will come to Woodstock to look at the sites, take their pictures, and get tours of the bed and breakfast. I live around the corner from it, so I see it firsthand, and the owner, Lori, is a good friend of mine. There will be people on any given weekend for sure, but Thursday night, people will pull up in front of her house, everybody jumps out of the car, they take a picture, and off they go.
It's quite a phenomenon that Woodstock has embraced completely; the businesses, the residents, the city. We love it. We love having the visitors come and celebrate this movie and this movie is really one to celebrate. It's a great story and so many of the sites from the movie are still very much, you can walk into the Moose Lodge, and it still looks like the bachelor auction. The movie theater outside will often change their marquee to say, "Heidi II," the week of Groundhog Days Festival to match up with the movie. And Wayne's Lanes on Church Street, they have renovated to look back to what it looked like in the movie. The owners at the time of the filming took that money that they got as the filming location and totally turned it '90s, black light, glowing bowling alley, and then the next owner actually started getting back some of the pieces that you saw in the film. The current owner now has embraced it completely and you walk in there and you swear Bill Murray is going to be sitting there at the bar because it looks just like the movie. It's a great experience, fun time.
Michael: I think I've seen that Stephen Tobolowsky has come back maybe once or twice; I think at least twice.
Melissa McMahon: Quite a few times actually.
Aside: Just a quick note here, Stephen Tobolowsky is the actor who portrayed Ned Ryerson in the film Groundhog Day. He is the pushy salesman who Phil Connors keeps running into every day and who Phil Connors eventually punches in the face and who famously says "Bing!".
Michael: So, does he help preside over the ceremony or is he just a spectator?
Melissa McMahon: Stephen Tobolowsky is a true friend of the committee. I don't know the exact number of how many times he's come back over the years, but he's come back for the festival quite a few times. The most recently I want to say was in '19 or '20, if I thought about it, I would have had notes, but he came back and he was absolutely, completely engaged.
After the prognostication, it was cold that year, he was there and took pictures for probably an hour and a half. Anybody who wanted a picture with him, he stayed and was out there taking them. He also gave a keynote speech; he's written a few books and they're great books. We had a presentation talk with him at the Opera House, which is still standing and was the location that was dubbed the Pennsylvanian Hotel, that's our Opera House, but Stephen talked to a packed house, giving stories about the filming, stories about his career in general. He's a great guy and he tells us year after year that if his schedule allows, he's coming back, and he has. But he is a working actor and a wonderful working actor so there was time like he was on Goldbergs and One Day at a Time so he's like, "I wanted to get back there." But he will often, I know there's a picture out there on set for One Day at a Time, which I think is a Netflix show, and he's wearing the scarf that we had given away to our pub crawlers that year. So, he's really a true friend to the city of Woodstock and the Groundhog Day Committee.
Michael: That's great that he keeps coming back here. Is there anyone else from the movie, that you know of, that's come back?
Melissa McMahon: The question is always, "Can you get Bill Murray to come back? Can you get Bill Murray?" We send correspondence, we ask every year. And you know, Bill Murray being Bill Murray, there's an entirely good possibility that he's been there and just in the crowd and hasn't said anything. In 2020, the year that Jeep did the groundhog-themed commercial, he did come back for the filming, and he was back in town then. I know we asked if we would come back for the festival which was going to be a few weeks later but alas, he did not, at least not that we noticed. But in the past, I believe Andie MacDowell had come out, I'm not sure for the festival or when they did the dedication of the filming for Harold. Quite a few of the extras in the movie were and are residents of Woodstock. A lot of people have really firsthand stories, which is great, and they share these with them.
But this year, which feels like last year, but 2023, Danny Rubin who is the original screenwriter for the movie, he came out and he was our special guest. [clip of Danny Rubin speaking] A lot of times, our special guests get a very involved part in the prognostication, they will sometimes read that proclamation. But Danny also gave a talk, a speech so to speak, at the Opera House, to another packed house. He too was very down to Earth, he was signing posters, taking pictures, again, just sharing that behind-the-scenes knowledge of a movie that we all love and his experience filming it. He also spoke about his work with the musical. So, Groundhog Day the musical, I don't know what year that came about but he had an integral part in that and spoke about it at our festival. It's amazing how one movie has kind of spurned so many things and it really, 30 years later, we still celebrate, we still have a festival. This year it's going to be February 1st through February 4, 2024, all are welcome. Come out to Woodstock, we just celebrate year after year, again and again.
Michael: And I guess I should ask you, are you native to Woodstock? How long have you been in Woodstock?
Melissa McMahon: I am not a native of Woodstock, I'm from a neighboring community, Hoffman Estates, but I've been in Woodstock now for almost 17 years, I'm still new compared to a lot but I love this town and just love people coming and enjoying... I mean, it's a town where we're big enough that we've got a couple of fast-food restaurants and more than one stoplight but we're still small enough that people wave at their neighbors. You come to a four-way stop and it is usually kind of a standstill because everyone is trying to be nice to everybody else and that's what Woodstock is about. When I was looking to get involved with different things, I was like, hey, Groundhog Days brings out so many people, everybody is in a good mood, everybody is smiling, there are families, there are kids, there are adults and grandparents. This is a movie and a festival that everyone can enjoy. And I was like, hey I'm going to get involved with that. Next thing I knew, I was Woodstock Willie's personal assistant, making sure that our mascot got to as many things as we could.
It's pretty funny, we'll have a Christmas parade, and we actually have an event here in Woodstock that is wonderful, it's called Lighting of the Square, and it's held the Friday after Thanksgiving, where the entire downtown area that is very recognizable from the movie, it's dark and we flip the light and the all the Christmas lights come up and that entire square is just lit like magic. I take Woodstock Willie and Santa, each of them by a hand, and lead them through the crowd to get them to our bandstand, the same bandstand that you see in the movie, and people will be like, "Oh my gosh, Woodstock Willie is here!" and they're so excited and then they're like, "Oh hey, Santa," like an afterthought. This is our biggest event leading into Christmas, but that just kind of gives you an idea of the love that our town has for this movie.
Michael: And you said Woodstock Willie, the mascot, is around all year, goes to, I mean obviously this event which was around Christmas time and February. But just I guess any other events...
Melissa McMahon: Yeah. They were out for Witches and Wizards of Woodstock, which is another family-friendly event, put on by our public library this past weekend and we were out for that. Woodstock Willie was a judge for the costume contest and took pictures with so many people. So, it's really something that we celebrate all year round, the movie, the festival, and our Woodstock. [laughs]
The really fun thing is this coming year, Woodstock Willie, we have a neighboring community, they're called the Windy City Bulls, so it's the G league for the NBA, they're affiliated with the Chicago Bulls, they play in an arena about 40 minutes from here and they reached out to us and said, "We want to do a takeover, we want to become the Windy City Willies for a game day." So, they're doing new uniforms with our Woodstock Willie logo on it, we've got special ticket rates for Woodstock residents, they get to go for almost half the cost, and we get to see a great basketball game. And Woodstock Willie and their mascot, Gus T Bull, have been going all around Woodstock and the arena together just doing stuff, taking pictures, shooting video, and it's been a lot of fun. We can't wait for that event to happen. It's going to lead up to Groundhog Day but it's nice to be noticed and nice that people are like, "Hey, you guys are having fun out there, we want to have some fun with you." And we welcome that each and every time.
Michael: I did want to ask about the Jeep commercial that you mentioned before. So, that was what, 2020 when that was filmed, I think? Or was it '19?
Melissa McMahon: I would have to look in my phone for pictures. It was this random thing, nobody really knew it was happening, kind of, sort of. We knew something was going on, a lot of the businesses had been contacted, and the city had been contacted. At the time, I was the manager of a venue on the square and I was approached to- It was in 2020, I did just check. I was approached to be rented for an event and didn't know what it was, they said, "We're filming a commercial and we want this room to be holding for our extras." So, we're like, hey, sounds good.
It was a really early morning start, I was probably one of the first people on the square, still dark out, and there was a nondescript white TV van that looked just like the one in the movie, it didn't have a logo on it or anything and I was like, there are just too many things going on, we're signing nondisclosures and stuff. And when they arrived, they're like, "Here's what we're doing, here's what's going to happen, and here's who is going to be here." And that's what happened. It was really funny because a lot of the extras had not yet seen the movie and I had this weird feeling like something was going to happen with it and I had brought my personal DVD copy of the movie with me that morning so we had it on our screen and the extras were watching the movie, some of them for the first time, to see what they were getting themselves into. So, it was really fun.
Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill Murray, and Stephen Tobolowsky were all back for that filming so having already spent time with Stephen at the previous Groundhog Day, I had a good time with him, and we were actually honored enough to get... We had already had our posters ready for that year's event, for the 2020 event, and I was able to get Bill Murray, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Brian Doyle-Murray to all sign our posters, which we then auctioned off to raise money for various charities here in Woodstock.
Michael: Oh, awesome. Yeah, I think I remember at the time it seemed like it maybe came out pretty quickly, maybe there was some question as to whether Bill Murray was going to do it, maybe they couldn't get into contact with him. I feel like I've heard stories about that like, he might be difficult to get in contact with. I know there were those stories about him just having some answering machine or something like that, that's the only way you can get in contact with him, maybe he listens to it, maybe he doesn't, who knows. But I don't know how true those stories are or if that's still the case.
Melissa McMahon: I would say they're very true, I would say they're very true. And yes, they really weren't sure if he was- From what I understand, and I became fairly acquainted with the production director and the location director and stuff like that and still have relationships with them because of all the work we did, they didn't know until about a week that he confirmed, a week prior, that they were going to do that. They came in, shot a whole bunch of stuff on the street in different locations that the movie was done, they did do some filming at the bed and breakfast and then they did make some of that commercial, like you see him driving around in the fields and he's out there with fireworks, that was at a local apple orchard/farmland nearby. And then the inside of the bedroom for the commercial was done on a soundstage and made to mimic the movie again and stuff.
There was a lot of "Will he, won't he?" Even Stephen said that he wasn't completely sure, but he was contracted to and stuff, so he was coming. But yeah, it was a lot of excitement. Most of the store owners that were contacted, we were asked not to say anything, so we didn't. I didn't post anything until after the commercial came out, but it did get into the news about noon that day, they were there about 4:30, and about noon it got out on social media, and all of a sudden, people just started appearing, so they were holding some people back. But everyone, just like when they filmed in '92, everyone was very courteous, very, "Oh, am I in the way? Let me move." But they just wanted to see the excitement. Brian, Stephen, and Bill went to lunch across the street at the diner, they were taking pictures in different stores, just really accommodating to all their fans because people love this movie, and they love Woodstock because it reminds them so much of the movie.
Michael: I think it's really cool that the movie has inspired all these things in Woodstock.
Melissa McMahon: The number of weddings on Groundhog Day in Woodstock is in the dozens sometimes.
Michael: Oh wow.
Melissa McMahon: People get married on Groundhogs, it's so cold but they will get married up in the bandstand just because they're fans of the movie, whatever reason. Yeah, people come from everywhere and it's really just a lot of fun.
Michael: Yeah, I remember listening to, I think it was the DVD commentary where Harold Ramis said that they didn't think Punxsutawney had the town center that he had envisioned for Punxsutawney, and I guess they went around and around looking for places. I don't know if it was maybe their last stop or their last stop on the day...
Melissa McMahon: It's a fun story. So, from Bob Hudgins, who was the location manager, they went to Punxsutawney to look it over, but Punxsutawney's ceremony is actually out in a field, they bus people out of town to this field, so there's not that community vibe to it. So, they're like, "Okay, that's not going to work."
Harold Ramis and Bill Murray, both being in the Chicagoland Area at the time wanted something within one and a half to two hours tops from the city. Really early on, Bob, who had also been the location manager for Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, which had scenes shot in Woodstock, mentioned to Harold, "Hey, how about this town?" And he was like, "I don't know, I don't know." They did have a scouting location day where they were up in, I think it was Baraboo, Wisconsin or somewhere in Wisconsin but nearby enough and the story goes, and what Bob has said that on their way back from that, Harold liked it, but it wasn't like, "This is the one." He's like, "We'll grab some lunch, let me take you through this town." Comes to Woodstock and had had a relationship with John Sheers, who was the managing director of the opera house at the time. John allowed them to go up into the bell tower of the Opera House, which nobody really gets to do at all, so it was kind of a cool thing. They went up there, Harold looked around and said, "This is it." So, that's how it came to be.
Michael: I think you might have mentioned it, around what time is the ceremony usually for Woodstock Willie?
Melissa McMahon: The prognostication is at 7:07 AM Central Time, give or take. Sometimes some of our special guests will talk a little more or a little less but around 7:00 is where we start the band. We have a polka band come out, they play starting at about 6:45. The committee and dignitaries will come out of the Opera House, walk to the bandstand at about 6:55, 7:00 and we're on the square for that and it really just depends on how quickly people get through speeches and then we bring out... The Opera House had built a kind of, enclosure-looking tree stump, very similar to the movie, Wendy is in there and Mark will pull them out and we find out if it's going to be an early spring or a long winter. [clip of the start of the ceremony and prognostication]
So, that all goes down at about 7:00 and then we have a full day of activities; there's a ticketed breakfast at The Moose which was the filming location for the dinner dance and bachelor auction, and then many of our restaurants open early to service everybody. The Public House is a restaurant that does the drink to world peace, so you're taking shots at 7:20 in the morning; it helps with the cold, you get nice and warm doing that. And we have a whole day of activities that day.
Michael: I think that mainly covers everything I wanted to cover. Is there anything else that you wanted to mention? Anything I missed asking about?
Melissa McMahon: Not too much. I mean, we've got a website that's up year-round. I just looked at it and it looks like I need to update it because it's been a little bit, but that's WoodstockGroundhog.org, that's the official website for Groundhog Days. We have a Facebook page, we're on Instagram, and Woodstock Willie has their own channels too. Woodstock Willie is on Facebook; Groundhog Days is on Facebook. We have a lot of fun interacting and let's see, the next time Willie is out and about in the community will be at, I think Legend of the Pickle kick-off.
Michael: Oh, what's that?
Melissa McMahon: Legend of the Pickle is... Here's another funny tidbit of Woodstock; we're not only the filming location for Groundhog Day but we are the home of Claussen Pickles. Every Claussen pickle in the world is made in Woodstock, Illinois, we are the only plant. So, Legend of the Pickle is kind of, not an old wife's tale, but an old story time, they'd hide a pickle on the tree and whoever found it got an extra gift or something and we kind of embraced that with Claussen right here. So, Woodstock Willie and usually whatever child we can wrangle is in a pickle costume and it's a scavenger hunt held throughout Woodstock. It lasts for a few weeks, and you look for little pickle ornaments hidden in stores. Then we do a drawing that Claussen gives us some prizes for, it's just a nice lead into the holiday season and we've got everybody from kids to adults on their own will go and do this little scavenger hunt. That will be the next time Willie is around.
And then Lighting of the Square; Willie and Santa are good friends, so you'll see them together at the parade. And then after that, you'll see us at a basketball game, shooting some hoops. The entire committee and like I said, what's great about this is they've made some concessions for Woodstock residents to get some discounted tickets so we can all have some fun, and they're going to have an entire line of apparel and bobbleheads and stuff. We're so excited to see all of these things come together and work with the Windy City Bulls to just kind of, spread the love of Groundhogs Day. And then February 1st, we will be in Woodstock to welcome Woodstock Willie and kick off the festivities.
Michael: I'll have to try and get my hands on one of those bobbleheads, sounds pretty cool. I've never been out there. I am trying to get to more and more of the Groundhog Day forecaster events. Right now, I've been going to ones that are kind of close. I'm in New Jersey so there's a whole bunch in Pennsylvania.
Melissa McMahon: Was yours the one that... Wasn't there one that passed away last year? There was a groundhog somewhere...
Michael: So, Milltown Mel passed away two years ago and then last year, they apparently didn't have the right paperwork or hadn't done something correctly so they couldn't have one last year either. So, I don't know if there's going to be a Milltown Mel this year or not but I'm waiting to see. We do also have one that is at the Turtle Back Zoo but those are kind of the big ones that we have in New Jersey. Pennsylvania, I think, still has the most amount of...
Melissa McMahon: Maybe. It was really fun, last year being the 30th anniversary of the movie coming out, we got a lot of coverage. We get a lot of coverage anyway, but we had national coverage, the Today Show came out. It was really fun because Al Roker, on February 2nd, I'm usually busy that day so I don't get to watch TV that morning, he'll do pop-ups of across the country, the different groundhogs and we're like, "Wait a second, you don't have Woodstock Willie!" So, he told us last year that they would have Woodstock Willie on the big map this year so we're hoping so. But we always thought it would be fun to start a little rivalry with Punxsutawney, but we just haven't done that yet.
Michael: Yeah, I was going to ask because I know that there are rivalries between different forecasters, and I know Punxsutawney seems to basically say anybody but Phil is a pretender so...
Melissa McMahon: Yeah. We're always talking about, "Oh, we should start a little rivalry. We should send him something." Maybe we'll send him some pickles, we'll send them Claussen pickles, or something. But it's fun, a couple of years ago, we had some visitors who are on the committee in Punxsutawney and their setup is fun, they've got all kinds of stuff too, and she came out and we took her on the walking tour and showed her some of our sites and some of the things that we have and it was really fun to talk with her and see what they do. It's a groundhog, we're looking at a groundhog to predict the weather. In light of all the real-life stuff that... You know, you wake up to this morning's news and you're just like, "Augh." And then you just think about, in a couple of months, we're looking for the weather predictions from a groundhog and somehow it makes the icky stuff not so bad when you can have some fun and stand out there with your friends.
Michael: Yeah, that's what I love about the holiday. It's just a little bit of fun in the middle of, you know, at least here, dreary, cold weather and it's something to look forward to and, you know, maybe get out for a little bit, have some enjoyment and it sounds like you guys have a real big event there.
Melissa McMahon: We do. It's a couple of days and it's almost like, it's still a little early, we can still get snow in April here in northern Illinois, but in February you've come out of that darkness of the post-holiday kind of haze and then January and then coming out February 2nd, kids will go to school late that day, families, friends, neighbors all come out, and sometimes it's the first time you've seen them much because everyone is bundled inside and doing their own thing and then February 2nd, we're all out there on the square and you're like "Hey! Hi!" It's almost like we're all coming out of hibernation and ready to start our day anew. It really is an experience here in Woodstock and a great opportunity to appreciate what we've got and what we have to offer.
Michael: Okay, well I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me, and you know, if I can get out there some year, I would love to check out your celebration.
Melissa McMahon: Yeah, definitely. Let us know, we've had a couple of different newscasters, podcasters, and television shows, there's a great one on YouTube called "Beyond the Backlot" and all they do is tour and give stories of the locations of different films and they came out and did Woodstock and that's a great way to see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff and what it looks like now compared to what it was in the movie. And John McGivern's Main Streets came down to Woodstock and we did a whole special about Groundhog Day then too. So, there are some great things. Nothing beats being here in person, so if you make it, let us know, we will get you behind the scenes and make sure you're on the pub crawl and all the fun stuff we've got going.
Michael: That sounds really great.
Melissa McMahon: Absolutely.
Michael: Unless you have something else, thank you so much for being on here.
Melissa McMahon: Thank you!
Michael: And that's our interview. Thanks again to Melissa MacMahon for taking the time to talk to me about Woodstock and Woodstock Willie. If you have the opportunity to check out Woodstock Groundhog Day this year, I highly recommend doing so.
Are you an artist? That's great. On CountdownToGroundhogDay.com, we're currently running an art contest. We're asking for your submissions for theoretical Groundhog Day specials that don't exist but should. Like, what if there was a Charlie Brown Groundhog Day special called, "There's gonna be six more weeks of winter, Charlie Brown!," or an episode of ALF where ALF learns the true meaning of Groundhog Day? A link to the contest will be in the show notes. Also on the website, we're compiling a list of all the public Groundhog Day ceremonies that we can find. We'll be updating the list as more information becomes available. A link to that list is also in the show notes.
Hope you enjoyed today's episode. Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to the podcast so far. Feel free to leave us a review on iTunes. Some of my best friends, i.e., other podcasters I've never met or interacted with but only listened to with my ears, tell me it helps. The music for this show was written by the awesome 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 recordings can be sent to podcast@countdowntogroundhogday.com. Thanks for listening! Talk to you next week!
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Transcribed by Aveline Malek at TheWordary.com