Published February 02. 2019 10:07AM
Bundle up, it’s going to be six more weeks of winter.
“It looks like she saw her shadow and headed back into her log,” said Neil Murphy, weather forecaster and member of Groundhog Lodge #6 of Monroe County. Lodge leaders and about 20 others gathered in the parking lot of Cherry’s Sunset Diner in Kresgeville for the annual Groundhog Day ceremony.
Earl Meckes read a prayer in English and then in Pennsylvania Dutch. Everyone quickly retreated from the 1-degree Fahrenheit temperature and went inside for breakfast, coffee and chit-chat.
Sammy, a mounted groundhog, has been their mascot and weather predictor for many years. She died a few years ago and was preserved by a local taxidermist. She lives in a closet at lodge secretary Bruce George’s house all year long.
The lodge will host its annual Grundsau dinner on Friday, Feb. 22 at Polk fire company.
<p><span style="color: rgb(68, 73, 80); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; word-spacing: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important; white-space: pre-wrap; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(241, 240, 240); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Bruce George, Neil Murphy and Earl Meckes lead Saturday’s ceremony in the parking lot of Cherry’s Sunset Diner in Kresgeville. STACI GOWER/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS</span></p>