{"id":4154,"date":"2009-04-09T14:00:56","date_gmt":"2009-04-09T18:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T15:08:38","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T20:08:38","slug":"wiarton-willie-is-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Wiarton Willie is Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the joys of passing through small towns is seeing how the celebration and\/or marketing of a local icon shapes the landscape. Often the signs and statues commemorate\u00a0a famous resident, no matter how short a time they actually lived there. For example, if you drive through Hardinville, Kentucky,\u00a0you’ll notice a monument to Abraham Lincoln in the town square<\/a>, banners for the 200th anniversary of his birth on the light posts, and an ice cream stand with Honest Abe’s solemn face on the sign<\/a>, even though Lincoln’s family departed the area when the future president was seven years old.<\/p>\n

The honouree doesn’t have to be human. Closer to home,\u00a0one cannot\u00a0pass through Wiarton\u00a0without\u00a0encountering the name or smiling visage of Wiarton Willie<\/a>, who many Ontario residents may want to shake their fists at\u00a0after this week’s blast of winter (Willie’s 2009 forecast called for a long one<\/a>).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wiarton’s association with Groundhog Day began in 1956, when\u00a0resident Mac Mackenzie\u00a0invited, depending on the source, twenty or one hundred\u00a0friends up to\u00a0the town\u00a0for a party to break the winter blues. A Toronto newspaper photographer showed up and asked Mackenzie where the groundhog was. Mackenzie grabbed a fur hat to sub in for a live animal,\u00a0a photo was taken and the legend began. This wasn’t the end of sly substitutions, as mourners discovered in 1999 when the corpse of a woodchuck\u00a0filled in\u00a0for a recently deceased Willie\u00a0who had quickly decomposed.\u00a0Festivities gradually grew to include real, usually albino, groundhogs alongside activities like obstacle courses, parades, and outdoor shinny.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A stroll down Willie’s Way leads you down to the town’s pleasant waterfront park, where you will find recreational facilties, the old train station…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

…a statue of Willie (“Willie Emerging”)…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

…and a memorial to those groundhogs who\u00a0rose to the weather-forecasting challenge.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wiarton Willie will even take care of\u00a0the trash.\u00a0 Is the extent of his presence marketing overkill or a town taking pride in the creature that garners it attention from around the world?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 One of the joys of passing through small towns is seeing how the celebration and\/or marketing of a local icon shapes the landscape. Often the signs and statues commemorate\u00a0a famous resident, no matter how short a time they actually lived there. For example, if you drive through Hardinville, Kentucky,\u00a0you’ll notice a monument to AbrahamContinue reading “Wiarton Willie is Everywhere”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4061,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,69,21759],"tags":[725,11860,11862,11863,6438,636,21,60,11859,11858,11861],"class_list":["post-4154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-curiosities","category-features","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-future-president","tag-groundhog-day","tag-hardinville","tag-kentucky","tag-ontario","tag-other-cities","tag-road-trip","tag-toronto-newspaper-photographer","tag-wiarton-willie","tag-wiartons-association"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWiarton Willie is Everywhere - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wiarton Willie is Everywhere - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 One of the joys of passing through small towns is seeing how the celebration and\/or marketing of a local icon shapes the landscape. 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For example, if you drive through Hardinville, Kentucky,\u00a0you’ll notice a monument to AbrahamContinue reading "Wiarton Willie is Everywhere"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-09T18:00:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T20:08:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3408\/3420811819_08145de082_o.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie Bradburn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie Bradburn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/\",\"name\":\"Wiarton Willie is Everywhere - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3408\/3420811819_08145de082_o.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-09T18:00:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T20:08:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/e635d019bc252240cf2cbae180267792\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3408\/3420811819_08145de082_o.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3408\/3420811819_08145de082_o.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wiarton Willie is Everywhere\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/e635d019bc252240cf2cbae180267792\",\"name\":\"Jamie Bradburn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fe93930a77e138ae3a7eb387e5d893a?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fe93930a77e138ae3a7eb387e5d893a?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jamie Bradburn\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/jamie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wiarton Willie is Everywhere - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/04\/09\/wiarton-willie-is-everywhere\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wiarton Willie is Everywhere - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"\u00a0 One of the joys of passing through small towns is seeing how the celebration and\/or marketing of a local icon shapes the landscape. 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