Illinois
Move over, Punxsutawney: The movie ‘Groundhog Day’ turned this Illinois town into a tourist hot spot
On Groundhog Day, the nation turns its consideration to Punxsutawney, Pa., the small city (inhabitants 5,725) the place a rodent named Phil is immediately changed into the nation’s chief climate forecaster. The ritual is so revered it grew to become the idea for “Groundhog Day,” the 1993 film starring Invoice Murray and Andie MacDowell.
However there’s only one factor: The film wasn’t filmed in Punxsutawney. As a substitute, it was shot primarily in Woodstock, Ailing., a bigger municipality (inhabitants 25,646) situated about 65 miles northwest of Chicago. And the town has capitalized on its connection to the now-iconic film — to the purpose that it holds its personal Groundhog Days pageant across the Feb. 2 vacation.
“Transfer over Punxsutawney certainly!” occasion organizers declared on Fb.
The multiday pageant seemingly has all of it, from a dinner dance on the Woodstock Moose Lodge to a trivia contest. There’s additionally a groundhog readily available — on this case, one named Woodstock Willie, who makes the all-important Feb. 2 prediction as as to if we’ll face six extra weeks of wintry climate or not.
As many as 5,000 individuals attend the pageant, in response to organizers. And others come to the town all year long from locations as far-off as Europe and Australia. They go to key filming areas, such because the spot the place Murray’s character stepped right into a puddle time and time once more. Naturally, the city has plaques to immortalize these locales and likewise gives guests a map to assist them do their very own “Groundhog Day” strolling tour.
“We positively play into it,” stated Danielle Gulli, former president of the Woodstock Space Chamber of Commerce & Business and now government director of enterprise growth for the town itself.
Gulli added that the “Groundhog Day” connection inevitably helps the town, which is in any other case maybe finest often known as the house of the Claussen pickle manufacturing facility
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Gulli credit the movie with attracting new companies and housing builders to the realm.
“There’s not a developer that involves city that doesn’t know that,” she stated of Woodstock’s cinematic fame.
A scene from a previous Groundhog Days pageant in Woodstock, Ailing. Rick Bellairs, at proper, appeared as an additional within the “Groundhog Day” film and now heads the pageant committee.
Woodstock Groundhog Days
As one would possibly count on, this all doesn’t sit fairly so nicely with the nice individuals of Punxsutawney. Granted, the Pennsylvania city isn’t essentially hurting for publicity: As many as 30,000 attend its Groundhog Day occasion that includes Punxsutawney Phil. However Punxsutawney Space Chamber of Commerce President Katie Laska decries any city that tries to muscle in on its turf and outshine Phil.
“Faux information,” she stated of Woodstock’s fame. “Everybody is aware of who the true groundhog is.”
Not that Woodstock sought out its place within the film world. Fairly the alternative, in truth.
Danny Rubin, who co-wrote the script for the movie with the late Harold Ramis, stated Woodstock wasn’t mounting any type of marketing campaign to turn out to be groundhog central. As a substitute, the town was chosen by the filmmakers largely as a result of Ramis wished a location close to his residence base in Chicago.
“I believe that was the clincher,” stated Rubin, who might be showing at this yr’s Groundhog Days pageant in Woodstock, which is honoring the 30th anniversary of the movie’s launch
In fact, there are different cities in Illinois and neighboring states that would have been picked. Bob Hudgins, a now-retired location scout who labored on the movie, stated Ramis and the manufacturing workforce got here near selecting Mineral Level, a equally historic city in southwest Wisconsin.
However Woodstock gained out primarily due to its picturesque city sq. — and the filmmakers preferred the concept of constructing the film round such a sq. although the Groundhog Day ceremony in Punxsutawney is held in Gobbler’s Knob, a wooded space outdoors city.
One other consider Woodstock’s favor: It had already been tapped as the placement for a couple of scenes within the 1987 John Sweet and Steve Martin movie “Planes, Trains and Vehicles,” so Hudgins knew the terrain.
However as Hudgins famous, some key Woodstock locals had been against “Groundhog Day” being made there. Their pondering: The shoot would tie up parking and intervene with business-as-usual, because the filming was going to take a number of weeks.
“My job received exponentially more difficult,” stated Hudgins.
Slowly however absolutely, the locals had been satisfied, and approval was granted, Hudgins added. And the placement scout discovered all of the spots he wanted to make the image, although, to create the essential puddle scene, Hudgins stated he needed to take away a couple of cobblestones and fill the ensuing gap with a bucket of water.
A plaque marks the spot in Woodstock, Ailing., the place Invoice Murray stepped right into a puddle — repeatedly — in the course of the filming of “Groundhog Day.”
Woodstock Groundhog Days
Many locals ended up serving as extras within the movie. Amongst them: Rick Bellairs, now an area real-estate agent and chair of the Groundhog Days pageant committee.
On the time of the filming, Bellairs stated locals didn’t actually know a lot concerning the film, which depicts a weatherman trapped in a loop during which he relives Groundhog Day again and again (making a pop-cultural connotation for the vacation that, it’s typically laborious to recollect, didn’t exist beforehand). And whereas many in Woodstock actually acknowledged Invoice Murray, a local of Chicago’s suburban North Shore who rose to fame through the Second Metropolis improv troupe, and a few of the different forged members, additionally they knew they couldn’t attempt to buddy up with them.
“It was frowned upon,” stated Bellairs, who nonetheless received Murray, MacDowell and Ramis to signal a hat he wore throughout filming.
Bellairs stated the city did have satisfaction within the image when it got here out three many years in the past. Particularly the locals who appeared in it. If you happen to look intently, Bellairs stated, you possibly can spot him in a single crowd scene, form of, however his blue Saab has a extra distinguished position in different elements of the movie.
It took a couple of years after its launch for “Groundhog Day” to turn out to be a cult favourite. Equally, it took some time for Woodstock locals to acknowledge how their metropolis — an hour and 13 minutes from downtown Chicago through categorical commuter practice — may flip right into a vacation spot, so to talk, due to its position within the film.
Bellairs stated the Groundhog Days pageant began as a small gathering in 1995, but it surely grew to become greater over time.
“We added the polka band. We added the dwell groundhog. It grew and grew,” he stated.
Rubin, the movie’s co-writer, stated he’s glad to return to Woodstock for the pageant, particularly because the core of the city hasn’t modified a lot since “Groundhog Day” was made.
“It feels such as you’re strolling across the film,” he stated.