
Spectators are looking at fireworks before Punxsutawney Phil Make its annual winter forecasts at the Gobbler button in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Nate Smallwood for NPR
hide
tilting legend
Nate Smallwood for NPR
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania – The crowd began to build up in the gobble button at 3 am on Sunday, happy to wait more than four hours cold to see the famous Punxsutawney Hatmotte Phil emerges from its tree trunk during the day Marmot.
“Phil! Phil! Phil! Phil!” They sang while the moment was finally getting closer.
At 7:25 am, with Sunrise hitting the hill, the members of the inner circle – the upper minced leaders of the Groundhog club – huddled around the standing tree trunk in the middle of the wide scene. The president of the interior circle Tom Dunkel used a wooden rod to rape at the door of Phil. The marmot was brought and held in the sky, triggering an acclamation frenzy.

Punxsutawney Phil is awake before making his annual winter forecasts.
Nate Smallwood for NPR
hide
tilting legend
Nate Smallwood for NPR
Thousands of people examined Phil, a photogenic but impenetrable animal, for any suspicion of his prediction – then he came: Phil saw his shadow, predict that winter time will remain six more weeks, like lots of old snow.
“There is a shadow here – prepare for six winter weeks this year!” The vice-president of the Circle Inner Dan “Monshine” dit McGinley, reciting a roller containing the message of the marmot. The news triggers a series of cheers from the crowd, as well as noisy huae.

Punxsutawney Phil has seen its shadow, predict that winter weather will remain six more weeks.
Nate Smallwood for NPR
hide
tilting legend
Nate Smallwood for NPR
“We want spring!” A young man shouts. As for the way Phil selects the roll, Dunkel says that the animal communicates its wishes in “Groundhog-Ese”, which it is capable of deciphering thanks to its presidential cane.
A few hours earlier, I joined the multitudes in streaming through the hill to fill a large clearing on the edge of the woods. We arrived by car, bus and on foot (at 4 am, the Gobbler button parking was full). The cold at 20 degrees would be – we hoped – blurred by the excitement of looking at a tradition dating from 1887.
How to stay warm while waiting for the time of a rodent
Doundhog Day lovers use a range of strategies to deal with cold and manage an early awakening call.
“I have a heated vest. I have a heated hat. I have a heated scarf,” says Danielle Nola about her preparations. “So, I will probably have two or three (layers of clothes) more that.”

Thousands of spectators were gathered while they were waiting overnight to see the winter forecasts of Punxsutawney Phil.
Nate Smallwood for NPR
hide
tilting legend
Nate Smallwood for NPR

“Same thing,” said her daughter, Olivia, laughing, adding that she will wear at least two layers of socks.
“A year was zero degrees,” said Brian Lutgens of Blacksburg, Virginia. “We had heat packaging on the neck and chest and shoes, and diapers on diapers. And we were surprisingly comfortable all the time. So it can be done.”
Truck Lutgens, his wife, adds that the energy of the crowd helps: “Everyone dancing and they just have great entertainment. The guys who are up there on the stage keep us all under tension.”
The main event is not the only party
Saturday was a full party in Punxsutawney, while visitors welcomed the marmot day falling on a Sunday.
Punxsutawney Phil goes around the city while visitors stop to see it on Saturday.
Nate Smallwood for NPR
hide
tilting legend
Nate Smallwood for NPR
“We expect 40,000 people to flock to Punxsutawney this weekend,” Anne Ryan, assistant tourism secretary in Pennsylvania, in NPR.
Many of these visitors flocked to PunxSy Pizza, in the center of the city.
“We have been planning for months for this day” because of the weekend calendar, the owner of the restaurant, Scott Anthony. “Since we opened the doors (Saturday) morning, it has been a line of people. Our tables were full. We have standing and eating people and a lot of action here at the bar.”
In Barclay Square, the city center, people aligned themselves to throw a glimpse of Phil in his burrow habitat. Last year, Phil became the father of two young kits, Shadow and Sunny.

Punxsutawney Phil takes photos with people during an appearance in town on Saturday.
Nate Smallwood for NPR
hide
tilting legend
Nate Smallwood for NPR
“It was really exciting,” said a young visitor named Emily. She and her family traveled with Pittsburgh, about 80 miles away. “I saw three,” she adds. “I think one was Phil’s wife, Phyllis.”
Nearby, catering trucks, craft manufacturers, local breweries and distillors have done fast business, while rock groups have played on a large stage.
In this atmosphere similar to a festival, some visitors seek to extend their rejoicing in the night – perhaps even until 3 am, when the Gobbler button opens the day of the hop.

The joggers meet before the 4 -thousand marmot jogging at Punxsutawney.
Nate Smallwood for NPR
hide
tilting legend
Nate Smallwood for NPR

“After supper time, it turns more than a party, that’s for sure,” said Anthony. “We close at midnight, most bars close at 2 years. And then people just have to look until the buses start at 3 am to go up to the button.”
His bar “will probably spend about six barrels,” he said.
“I’m going to stand overnight, then I’m going to go see Phil,” said René Leonard de Springfield, Virginia, adding that his group has a designated driver.
But everyone in Punxsutawney does not go up on the Gobbler button for the Marmot day: for the inhabitants, it is more an optional activity rather than a list of buckets.
In the community center, I found Mindy Grose and Tracy McCoy selling adorable felt leaves and needle marmots.

Mindy Grose (left) and Tracy McCoy selling professions related to the Marvoine at Punxsutawney Community Center.
Nate Smallwood for NPR
hide
tilting legend
Nate Smallwood for NPR
Women say they have met visitors from Germany, Spain, Australia and other countries to this arrondissement to see a land pork in its burrow.
“Some of these people have come every year to, you know, 20 years old or more,” said McCoy. “We see them every year. It’s fun.”
The two women say they regularly jump the main event, as they prefer to visit the Gobbler button and see Phil without the crowd and the early awakening.
But, says Grose, she likes the day of Groundhog herself.
“These are my favorite vacation,” she said. “Because you have nothing to cook. You need to buy gifts.”

Punxsutawney Phil is loaded in a car after a public appearance.
Nate Smallwood for NPR
hide
tilting legend
Nate Smallwood for NPR