Milltown Mel Makes His Annual Groundhog’s Day Prediction

Groundhog’s Day only comes once a year, and there’s only one groundhog I trust to predict the weather…Milltown Mel! Milltown Mel is a local Milltown hero. For over 10 years the folks of the small town of Milltown (Middlesex County) gather together at 7AM to greet Milltown Mel as they all anxiously await to see if he’ll see his shadow.

Milltown has been doing their annual Groundhog Day celebration for the last 13 years. Usually, it’s a short ceremony but an honoured one. The Milltown Groundhog Wranglers present Milltown Mel to an excited crowd who are happy to see him. The wranglers wear suits and top hats, and the crowd also joins in wearing top hats as well.

As the famous groundhog is about to give his prediction the crowd goes WILD. The kids and adults chant and hold signs for their hero.

Sadly this year the festivities were cancelled due to Covid-19. Milltown Mel is currently in quarantine, but planned to announce his predictions via his Facebook page.

This morning Mel used his Facebook  and Instagram page to announce:

“As I lay here in my bed and snore, I sneak a peek outside the door,” Mel wrote on his Instagram and Facebook pages. “If the lack of a shadow what I truly see, then an early spring there must be.”

This is probably welcome news for New Jerseyans who are experiencing over 2 feet of snow at the moment and are recovering from back injuries from shovelling.

Although I am a Milltown Mel stan (that is what the kids say these days, right?), there are other New Jersey groundhogs that like to predict the weather on February 2nd. In Pennington, there’s Watershed Wally the Woodchuck; Essex Ed, the resident groundhog at Essex County Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, Flemington has their Echo Hill Groundhog, and Piscataway has Piscataway Pete.

Fingers crossed that we’ll be able to celebrate with Milltown Mel (and his groundhog friends) in person in 2022.