{"id":120519,"date":"2026-02-02T21:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/120519\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T21:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:03:07","slug":"bizarre-nyc-groundhog-day-event-with-curtis-sliwa-draws-hundreds-of-hipsters-protesters-with-a-possible-twist-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/120519\/","title":{"rendered":"Bizarre NYC Groundhog Day event with Curtis Sliwa draws hundreds of hipsters, protesters \u2013 with a possible twist next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

This groundhog has found a new borough.<\/p>\n

For-hire Pennsylvania groundhog \u201cWolfgang\u201d spotted his shadow at Brooklyn\u2019s McCarren Park in front of a crowd of ecstatic hipsters Saturday, whispering his weather prediction to perennial mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa \u2014 who claimed he\u2019d don his own groundhog costume next year.<\/p>\n

The woodchuck predicted six more weeks of frigid wintery temperatures to the delight of hundreds in Williamsburg who chanted Sliwa\u2019s name and even bid for the Republican\u2019s autograph. <\/p>\n

Hundreds of hipsters descended on a popular Williamsburg, Brooklyn park to watch a groundhog whisper its weather predictions into the ear of ex-mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa Saturday. Nicole Rosenthal<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re glazing me!\u201d he greeted the crowd, quoting his infamous one-liner on the debate stage to now-Mayor Zohran Mamdani last year.<\/a> \u201cI want to thank all of you \u2026 for maintaining this American tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The offbeat gathering, now in its second year, is the brainchild of political journalist Riley Callanan, 26, who told The Post that she shelled out $2,250 to rent the varmint<\/a> from an animal rental service \u2014 and invited the animal-loving Sliwa as a \u201cshot in the dark\u201d due to his \u201cNew York icon\u201d status among youngsters.<\/p>\n

The Guardian Angels founder also announced a twist on next year\u2019s event \u2014 in the vein of viral \u201clook-alike\u201d contests that have emerged in the Big Apple<\/a> \u2014 after a handful of animal welfare activists crashed the Saturday afternoon shindig.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext year, I\u2019m going to come and I\u2019m going to audition with many of you and become a human [groundhog] next year to determine the shadow,\u201d Sliwa suddenly declared after speaking with his \u201cfellow animal welfare friends\u201d at the event.<\/p>\n

Curtis Sliwa poses with Gen Zers in McCarren Park. Nicole Rosenthal<\/p>\n

Th groundhog \u201clook-alike\u201d contest will be a \u201cnice pre-show ceremony\u201d to Brooklyn\u2019s new boozy bar crawl tradition, he said.<\/p>\n

However, Callanan told The Post that she\u2019s still \u201choping\u201d to use a real woodchuck.<\/p>\n

Callanan previously told The Post she was inspired to begin organizing a yearly Groundhog Day tradition as a \u201csilly way to party\u201d in the \u201cdarkest time of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a wholesome reason to keep fun alive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Animal rights activists, including those from anti-horse carriage advocacy group NYCLASS and Humane Long Island, had urged organizers hours before the event to cancel over animal cruelty concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cGroundhogs naturally hibernate in the winter, and forcing one into a stressful, unnatural environment with a drunk and raucous crowd of potentially thousands of people following a bar crawl is cruel and dangerous,\u201d NYCLASS said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cPast NYC Groundhog Day events have already resulted in injuries \u2014 and even the death of a groundhog after being dropped,\u201d the group said, citing the fatal fumble of Staten Island Chuck after it fell out of the grip of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio.<\/a><\/p>\n

The news comes after animal rights activists urged organizers to cancel the event over animal cruelty concerns. Nicole Rosenthal<\/p>\n

Sliwa, who has been outspoken on animal welfare issues like converting the city\u2019s animal shelters to a no-kill policy, said Thursday he wasn\u2019t sure where the groundhog had come from \u2014 but insisted he wouldn\u2019t be holding the critter himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m well-aware that I am not a skilled groundhog handler,\u201d Sliwa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m there simply to see if the groundhog sees its shadow. \u2026 I will certainly not make the mistake that Bill de Blasio did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edita Birnkrant, executive director of NYCLASS, said the young organizers agreed not to use another live animal in the wintertime tradition after advocates blasted the event on social media, but Callanan argued they \u201cdid [that] to appease the protesters \u2026 and am still hoping to use a real groundhog next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great to meet the handler and hear how well the groundhog was cared for,\u201d she explained. \u201cHe was rescued as a baby after his family was killed in a backhoe accident and lives in the handlers\u2019 greenhouse. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis favorite treat is a PB&J and I\u2019m glad his handler gave him one to munch on during the ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This groundhog has found a new borough. For-hire Pennsylvania groundhog \u201cWolfgang\u201d spotted his shadow at Brooklyn\u2019s McCarren Park…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8394,98,50587,57,9,197,56,63,65,64,58,1424],"class_list":["post-120519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-animal-rights","tag-brooklyn","tag-groundhog-day","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-us-news","tag-williamsburg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}