A Tale of Two Groundhog Towns

I just learned something shocking about one of my very favorite movies: Groundhog Day.

The 1993 film purports to be set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where Groundhog Day observances have been held on Feb. 2 since 1887. You know, when the guys with the top hats pull the groundhog — Punxsutawney Phil — out of his cage to record if he sees his shadow.

If he does, there’s officially six more weeks of Winter. If he doesn’t, i.e., it’s an overcast day, well, somehow that means an early Spring. But whether he sees his shadow or not, by Feb. 2 there’s only six weeks until March 21 — the First Day of Spring — anyway.

Kind of silly, when you think about it...

But here’s the shocking part: The movie was NOT filmed in Punxsutawney, PA. but actually in Woodstock, Illinois.

I could hardly believe it. I mean, ever since the movie was released in 1993, I had this belief that the down-home town portrayed in the film WAS Punxsutawney.

I could almost picture myself joining in the Pennsylvania Polka with the revelers at Gobbler’s Knob in the picturesque town square. Or just accepting that all of the movie's scenes were snapshots of charming little Punxsutawney.

But no. I guess you just can’t trust anyone from Hollywood.

According to Harold Ramis, director of Groundhog Day, the actual Punxsutawney didn’t have the vibe moviemakers were looking for.

“We didn’t use Punxsutawney for the film because (it) didn’t have a real town center that looked very good on camera (and) we wanted a town that looked perfect.”

Ramis said the folks in Punxsutawney were understandably a bit miffed when told the movie was being shot in Woodstock, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.

“They were very jealous that the movie wasn’t set in Punxsutawney, but when they saw Woodstock they thought it looked better than their town,” he said.

Since the release of the movie, Woodstock has taken the Groundhog and run with it. They have their own Groundhog Day observance with their big rodent, Woodstock Willie, on the same town square seen in the film.

Alas, Woodstock Willie passed from this world a few years ago, but he has since been replaced by Warner the Woodchuck.

Woodstock even offers a Groundhog Days Walking Tour through the town that visits all the scenes in the movie. And they make the most of the movie’s lasting appeal and attraction to Winter tourists.

For example, when the star of the film — Bill Murray — steps into a huge water-filled pothole in the street, filmmakers actually had to remove bricks from the street to create the hole.

When they repaired the street, the town put a plaque in the spot on the sidewalk that says "Bill Murray Stepped Here.”

So yes, I was shocked when I learned Woodstock, Ill. filled in for Punxsutawney, PA. I guess I’ll never watch the movie quite the same way again.

But here's the good news: It’s a perfect setting for the film, which remains funny and romantic and redemptive no matter how many times I watch it.

Kind of like the plot of this sweet, time-repeating tale.