KITCHENER -- A world famous groundhog did not see his shadow and has declared an early spring.
Thousands gathered in Wiarton Sunday morning to see what Willie’s prediction would be.
“I don’t think he can see his shadow,” said South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Janice Jackson in front of the crowd. “So it’s six more weeks!”
The mayor quickly realized her mistake and made a correction.
“I’m going to try this again,” said Jackson. “It’s an early spring!”
The officials for the 64th Wiarton Willie Festival marked down the do-over declaration.
“Once we realized it was a mistake I thought what the heck let’s do Groundhog Day all over again like the movie,” said Kevin Forget of Ontario Tourism. “So we did it all over again.”
Families in Waterloo tell CTV Kitchener they’re excited for the early spring prediction due to the current snowy conditions.
Even though some believe Wiarton Willie only gets it right one third of the time, the groundhog continues to draw a crowd to the town.
“There were people from Japan here as well as Germany,” said Jackson.
Shubenacadie Sam, Canada’s other famous groundhog, had his event in Nova Scotia cancelled due to bad weather. His online predictions disagree with Willie’s and say six more weeks of winter.
