My family just moved to the Columbus area from Baton Rouge, LA, on January 2. I’ve never been one who loves the cold, and, boy, we really jumped right in. Within the first week of being here, I invested in good waterproof boots and the largest coat I’ve ever seen, which seemed to make a big difference. I also quickly realized that Groundhog Day may have a whole new importance in my life in Ohio!
While my friends in Louisiana have been posting pictures of king cake and crawfish and their kids outside barefoot, I’ve been freezing and looking for activities to fill up our time here. And when I stumbled upon a poster for Winterfest at Buckeye Lake, I knew there was no way I could miss out on this wonderfully weird Groundhog Day event.
Buckeye Benny
6:30 AM – Benny predicts early spring followed by the ceremonial pre-dawn fireworks.
Benny? Early spring? I remembered seeing something in my son’s preschool newsletter that mentioned Buckeye Benny and Punxsutawney Phil in the same sentence, so I Googled “Buckeye Benny” and couldn’t stop laughing.
“Justin. They have fireworks. Before dawn. And there’s this thing with a fish and it’s so weird, and I want to go. But I know you don’t want to get up early on a Saturday, so why don’t I just take Judah and you stay with the girls?”
He looked at me and said, “I’m not going to let you get up and go chant for a fish alone.” After fifteen years of marriage, it’s nice to know that the romance is still alive.
Adventure Time
My alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. After I got dressed, I woke up my kiddos. “Good morning!!! Let’s get up and get dressed and go cheer for a fish! Yay!!!” I can’t lie to y’all: it felt a lot like something Clark Griswold would do…so I mustered all of my enthusiasm into making Groundhog Day a core memory event.
And my children came through, of course, matching my enthusiasm with equal amounts of disdain. “Why did you wake me up?” and “I’m tired. I’m comfortable. I’m not going.”
Once we got everyone bundled up, we were on our way and my daughter asked the all-important question: “Dad, what does a fish have to do with spring? I don’t understand.”
“Well, Lillian, everyone knows that spring is made up of minnows!” So somehow, this whole thing makes sense.
We arrived at Buckeye Lake and even though it wasn’t a large crowd, I was still amazed at the number of people there, on a Saturday, before dawn, when it was 3° out. But almost as soon as we got out of the van, it all went nearly sideways.
My son, who I almost brought alone, had a complete and utter meltdown at the cold. Crying and wailing the entire time, “But why is it sooooo collllddd? I want to GET BACK IN THE CAR! I need to pee!” Adding a frozen port-a-potty to this experience was really the icing on the cake. I think we were both traumatized before 7:00 a.m.
At the lake, we were greeted by the sight of a few people on a boat, one of whom was wearing a shiny fish head costume. They played the song for Buckeye Benny and the crowd would chant along with the chorus, “Take the bait; spring won’t wait! Take the bait, spring won’t wait!”
Early Spring or More Winter?
Finally, the moment we had come for arrived, and a bag of minnows was added to Benny’s fish tank and the timer began. If Benny eats a minnow in 3 minutes, it means early spring. If he doesn’t, six more weeks of winter.
“Thirty seconds! Come on, Benny! Come on, Bennyyyyy!” the man cheered in the microphone.
And then, “Wait! Wait! He got one!” Benny says early spring! And the crowd all cheered. Except for my son, who was having the worst morning in his nearly five years of life.
But then! The fireworks started over the lake while the sun was just beginning to come up. This was undoubtedly my favorite part of the entire groundhog day experience. Even Judah managed to quit wailing for a fireworks show. We all love fireworks, but I’m a morning person and usually would rather be in bed. So fireworks followed by sunrise? YES, PLEASE.
After the show, we watched people walk across the lake and one person zoom past on his snowmobile while we trekked back to our car with my son hollering the whole way about the cold.
“Who needs Mardi Gras, right?” my husband joked.
The entire thing was worth it to me – even though my family was as excited about it as Phil Conners in Groundhog Day. The whole experience seemed so absurd and hilarious that I couldn’t stop laughing. So while I don’t know that it’ll be an annual tradition, I do know that it was a great start to our new adventures living in Ohio! Check out other winter bucket list ideas too!
