Sun Prairie calls itself the Groundhog Capital of the World, and the whole thing started with a postcard.
In 1948, Wisconsin’s centennial year, Eau Claire commercial artist Ira Bennett and his young son made a series of postcards matching Wisconsin towns to holidays, according to the city of Sun Prairie’s Groundhog Day history. Independence got the Fourth of July. Port Washington got Washington’s Birthday. Loyal got Boy Scout Sunday. Groundhog Day took a little imagination: the groundhog sees his shadow when the sun comes up on the prairie, so Sun Prairie got the nod.
The village postmaster at the time was Margaret McGonigle, a lifelong resident who was active in politics and never missed a chance to promote her town. She asked Bennett for permission to use the idea, and the first Sun Prairie groundhog postcard came out that year.
The club
In 1949 the Sun Prairie Chamber of Commerce voted to sponsor the town as “Groundhog Capital of the World,” and a Groundhog Club formed with McGonigle as president. Anyone born on Feb. 2 could be a groundhog. People born on other days in February were woodchucks. The club mailed birth certificates all over the country for a small fee. The first Groundhog Day event was held that year at Angell Park.
Punxsutawney, Pa., which claimed the title first, noticed. In 1952 its newspaper described Sun Prairie as a “remote two cow village buried somewhere in the wilderness.” At its fourth annual celebration that year, Sun Prairie answered by announcing itself the Groundhog Capital of the World.
The club kept finding new ways to get attention. One year it staged a wedding for two stuffed groundhogs. That led Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Davis to declare in the Congressional Record that Sun Prairie’s groundhogs were “legitimate” and Pennsylvania’s were otherwise. Punxsutawney’s congressman answered in kind, and that went into the Congressional Record, too.
In 1953 Prince Dauphine was named Sun Prairie’s official groundhog. He was preserved by a taxidermist in 1959 and is on display at the Sun Prairie Historical Library and Museum. That didn’t keep him home. In 1962, with the space race on, the town put out a story that Prince Dauphine had gone to the moon in a rocket launched from Angell Park. He came back after a 12-month mission in 1963.
Enter Jimmy
Live groundhogs arrived in 1965, when Erich Lenz and his wife, 4-H leaders in town, became the official Keepers of the Faith. Erich named the animal Jimmy after Jim Weigen, who helped him get the first one. Every groundhog since has carried the name.
For years the ceremony was held at the Lenz home on Pony Lane, packed at sunrise with reporters, local politicians and anyone else who wanted in. Neighbor Dan Royle, the newspaper publisher, came up with the recipe for Moose Milk, a hot milk drink with a kick. It became Jimmy’s official drink.
The party moved to Feldman’s Supper Club in 1982, and the Moose Milk didn’t make the trip because state rules wouldn’t allow it to be served in a public gathering place. The Chamber took over Jimmy’s care in 1983. In 2013 the ceremony moved to Cannery Square downtown.
The bite
In 2015, Jimmy bit Mayor Jon Freund on the ear. The story went viral.
Go next year
Groundhog Day is now the finale of Frozen Fest, a six-day winter festival run by the Sun Prairie Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department. The 2026 prognostication in Cannery Square was the 78th. Mark Feb. 2 on your calendar, dress warm and see for yourself whether Jimmy behaves.
