Did he or didn't he?

Last night's weather forecast for Monday morning in Woodstock was "partly cloudy skies in the morning."

In last week's poll, 52% of the readers who responded, voted that Woodstock Willie would not see his shadow.

Well, did he?

At 7:10AM Woodstock Willie, Woodstock's own prognosticator or prognosticators, Illinois' stand-in for Punxsutawney Phil of Gobbler's Knob in Pennsylvania, did see his shadow, and you know what that means; right?

I'd say it was touch and go on the shadow thing, especially under the roof of the gazebo on the Square. Had the ceremony been just a few minutes later, as the sun rose, he definitely would have seen it, so it was a pretty good call.

A relatively small crowd of probably 200-300 people braved the cold to gather on Woodstock Square this morning for the annual celebration of Groundhog Day.

Some 568 miles to the east in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, "the" Phil raised his own paw. Did he see his shadow and proclaim, "Six more weeks of winter!"? Check out http://www.groundhog.org/ At the time of this writing the official website did not carry information about Phil's prognostication. You'll find it on TV news and elsewhere.

Thanks to the City for setting up a platform across the sidewalk from the gazebo for photographers. Some of the media were on it, giving those assembled a better chance to view the groundhog's removal from the box on the stage. However, at the last minute once again those eager photographers from the media hogged the front of the stage and blocked the view of the audience. Oh, well; there is always next year. Maybe the Groundhog Committee will finally force all of them to the camera stand and let the audience have an unobstructed view of Woodstock Willie.

Brought to you by the Woodstock Chapter of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, the Hon. Gus Philpott, Grand Stump Warden, presiding. Will the Chapter's banner be on display at the Square next year?