SOUTH BRUCE, Ont. — Ontario's most famous groundhog is holding out hope for residents of the province who are tired of winter.
In South Bruce, in an event early Wednesday morning, Wiarton Willie was brought onstage in a Plexiglas box,
Mayor Janice Jackson said he didn't see his shadow, and proclaimed that spring will come early this year.
According to folklore, if a groundhog sees its shadow on Feb. 2, it returns to its burrow because winter will last another six weeks.
Feb. 2 is the midpoint between the winter solstice and spring equinox.
Groundhog Day has its origins in medieval Europe, where farmers watched for hedgehogs on the Christian holiday of Candlemas because the animal's hibernation patterns had it stirring around this time.
A Lakehead University study recently determined that groundhogs' predictions for the arrival of spring at various locations across North America have been accurate only 50 per cent of the time.
