First Groundhog Day
The first official Groundhog Day celebration took place on Feb. 2, 1887, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The idea was hatched by local newspaper editor Clymer Freas, who sold a group of businessmen and groundhog hunters â known collectively as the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club â on the idea.
The men trekked to a site called Gobblerâs Knob, where the inaugural groundhog became the bearer of bad news when he saw his shadow.
Nowadays, the yearly festivities in Punxsutawney are presided over by a band of local dignitaries known as the Inner Circle. Its members wear top hats and conduct the official proceedings in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect. Supposedly they speak to the groundhog in âGroundhogese.â