Wiarton Willie Festival can help shake off the wintry cobwebs

By early February most of us are already feeling the weight of the winter season. The cold, the snow that grinds commutes to a halt, the seemingly endless darkness. Spring can’t come soon enough. 

Wiarton has the perfect solution.

Dust off the wintry cobwebs with a community party that also heralds the pending arrival—hopefully sooner rather than later—of spring and its rejuvenating warmth.

The Wiarton Willie Festival has been lifting winter spirits for over six decades and today has taken on national significance as media from across Canada descend on this village of 2000 souls to report on whether or not the titular albino groundhog sees his shadow. 

For much of its history Wiarton has been a small town existing out of the limelight. But then an albino groundhog named Willie decided to put down roots in the community and changed everything.

This white rodent began starred in his own show, emerging from his den each February to offer his expert prognostication on whether spring would be early or late in coming. The townsfolk embraced this celebrity and developed a celebration around his brief forecasting appearance. 

Running since 1956, the Wiarton Willie Festival is a much-beloved event that has become iconic to the community. Indeed, near the entrance of town, a sign proudly proclaim Wiarton as the ‘Groundhog Capital of Canada’.

“Wiarton Willie is immersed within the fabric of our community,” says Janice Jackson, Mayor of the Town of South Bruce Peninsula. “We’ve been celebrating Willie for 64 years and he’s our most famous celebrity.”

Willie resides in Bluewater Park, a scenic spot along the shores of Lake Huron’s pictureaque Colpoy’s Bay, in a home just opposite the beach. Elsewhere in the park is a three-meter tall, white limestine statue, entitled Willie Emerging, which pays homage to the revered rodent and town mascot. 

It’s an appropriate spot for Willie, Wiarton’s best-known resident, to reside. Bluewater Park is, in many ways, the heart of the community. In centuries past, before there was even a Wiarton, First Nations frequented the spot.

The waters around the tip of the Bruce Peninsula, where Georgian Bay meets Lake Huron, posed a danger to their canoes and so they would portage across land from Colpoy’s Bay. Later, as settlers arrived, they developed their businesses and industries around the water.

And today, the recreational opportunities afforded by the crystalline water and soft sandy beach represent an allure too enticing to ignore on a hot summer’s day.

But never is Bluewater Park more abuzz with energy than on that day, in February, when Willie emerges during the Wiarton Willie Festival’s Prediction Ceremony.

An anxious hush falls over the crowd as the groggy groundhog pokes his twitching nose out of his den. The dignitaries of Willie’s ‘Shadow Cabinet’, all dressed in formal attire, look on.

Then the town’s mayor—currently Janice Jackson—asks Willie for his springtime weather forecast. Good or bad, everyone celebrates the word. 
  
But of course there’s far more to the Wiarton Willie Festival than the prediction. There are sleigh rides through Bluewater Park, a pancake festival, live music, the Lion’s Club Hockey Tournament, a Willie Fest parade, craft show, a mixed curling bonspiel, a spectacular fireworks display, a PJ party, youth and adult dances, and more.

The festival attracts thousands of visitors, as well as media from across Canada and beyond. 

“We’re so proud that people around the world know Wiarton Willie and come to our community to celebrate Groundhog Day with us,” says Mayor Jackson.

Willie may well see his shadow, forecasting a longer winter, but nonetheless there are never glum faces: the sheer entertainment of the Wiarton Willie Festival sees to that.

Just the Facts
Date: The Wiarton Willie Festival will be held Feb. 2 in 2020
Web:  www.southbrucepeninsula.com.