THE BRIGHT SIDE

What a delightful change for 96.1.
Nancy Douglas stepped in and up to make some needed changes at this local station where so many Lake Geneva businesses so effectively advertise.  The musical selections are much better, particularly on Saturdays when all the songs are from earlier times.  The talk shows have more spirit and have gone from being all about national stuff to more local…and therefore of interest to so many who live around Geneva Lake.  What a pleasure to be able to write this kind of material about another media contributor to the area.

Will Spring come early this year or will winter outstay its welcome?
A fun tradition using groundhogs to predict an early Spring or long Winter is a fun tradition that continues to this day in the U.S. and Canada. The first Groundhog Day celebration was held on Feb. 2, 1877, at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhog Day derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow, it will retreat to its den and winter will go on for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow, spring will arrive early.

The Groundhog Day celebration was created by a newspaper editor in Punxsutawney named Clymer Freas, who was part of a groundhog hunting club called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Together, the group designated Punxsutawney Phil as the nation’s official groundhog meteorologist. While sunny winter days are indeed associated with colder, drier air, we probably shouldn’t trade in our meteorologists for groundhogs just yet. The accuracy of Punxsutawney Phil has a dismal success rate of around 50 percent. This year he did not see his shadow, so an early Spring is predicted.

Place of the Week

Winter Realms in Geneva National is now open. It truly is a unique and one-of-a-kind experience.