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Groundhog’s Day – Ellison Bay Style

It began as an idea, perhaps a crazy one, but an idea nonetheless. Like one of those great ideas forged on a cocktail napkin. An Ellison Bay resident lamented to his friends that the school cafeteria ladies were already decorating for Valentine’s Day.

“What happened to Groundhog’s Day?” he asked. “The uncelebrated, forgotten holiday.”

Within a week the 1st Annual Ellison Bay Groundhog Day Parade was planned. The word quickly spread and the event was a success, featuring Lee Telfer as Grand Marshall and Greta Mae Green, a basset hound, as the groundhog mascot.

The celebration moved to the Mink River Basin and went on for several hours with the revelers laughing, talking, perhaps meeting for the first time, and polkaing to the music of Dick Daubner’s Polka Cello.