Covid mutes Groundhog Day celebration; no throngs this year, but a virtual forecast set

A few days before the annual pilgrimage that thousands make to the small Jefferson County town on Feb. 2 to celebrate the appearance of that famous weather prognosticator, Punxsutawney Phil, Donna Grabany is experiencing something unusual.

There is room at her inn, lots of room in fact, for anyone wanting to stay at her Jackson Run Bed and Breakfast about five miles from where Punxsutawney Phil — with a little help from the leaders of the top-hat-wearing male Inner Circle — will pop out of the tree stump at Gobbler’s Knob early Tuesday morning. If the weather animal sees its shadow, the forecast is for six more weeks of winter.

“Normally, we’re all booked. Nobody’s staying,” said Grabany, who has operated the bed-and-breakfast for 23 years.

But because of the covid pandemic and the restrictions against large gatherings — indoor and outdoor — the Inner Circle of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club announced in mid-November that the famed groundhog will make his prognostication at Gobbler’s Knob without the cheers of the raucous crowds.

Instead of standing at Gobbler’s Knob for a view of Punxsutawney Phil, Groundhog Day fans can watch from the comfort of their home beginning at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday for the weather-predicting ceremonies and prognostication.

It will be broadcast on television, the Internet and will be livestreamed.

Grabany, a former nurse, said she understands why they don’t want people crowding together at Gobbler Knob, with the possibility the event could become a super spreader of covid.

In the weekend leading up to Groundhog Day, which started back in 1887, the little town of 6,000 is typically bustling.

“It’s really different. There’s nothing going on. You usually see thousands of people in town,” said Julie Branken, who owns the Plantation Bed & Breakfast, about a mile outside of town.

“The town is going to suffer,” from the loss of business, Branken said, but “everybody is suffering because of covid.”

Branken said there are only a few rooms booked — those by dedicated Groundhog Day fans who have come from as far as Dallas, New York, Ohio and Philadelphia to relive the experience of Punxsutawney on Groundhog Day.

“They come every single year,” and did not want to miss out this year, even though they can’t go to Gobbler’s Knob, said Branken, who has owned the inn for 21 years.

The group is such a bunch of Punxsutawney Phil admirers that they brought cardboard cutout pictures of themselves so they can have pictures taken of their cutouts at Gobbler’s Knob. They even brought a time capsule they intend to bury at Gobbler’s Knob, Branken said.

“They are serious” Punxsutawney Phil devotees, Branken said.

Most of her guests who make the annual trek to Punxsutawney have decided to stay at home this year and have moved their reservations to 2022, Branken said.

One Groundhog Day lover from the Scranton area who won’t have to get his wife, Shannon, and three young girls into their car at 11 p.m. Monday to drive four hours to arrive at Punxsutawney at 3 a.m. is Douglas Forrer, who is president of the American Society of Groundhog Admirers and Tax Professionals chapter of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

Forrer, a Long Island native, said he started going to Punxsutawney when he was a student at the University of Scranton.

The popular film, “Groundhog Day” had been released in 1993, and that drove the crowds to the towns.

Forrer, 46, recalled how the family drove to Punxsutawney in 2019, arriving when the temps were a balmly minus-13 degrees in the middle of the night. His youngest daughter, just 4 years old, persevered the bitter temps. They got to be up close to the Inner Circle and was able to watch the proceedings without fighting the crowds.

“I’ve always liked it,” Forrer said of following the Punxsutawney Phil’s prognostications and enjoying the festivities of the day.