WORCESTER – The EcoTarium was abuzz on Friday as visitors, including state and city officials, flocked to the museum on Groundhog Day to hear from the resident rodent meteorologist.
“Like her ancestors before her, Cornelia has acquired the fascinating ability to predict the arrival of spring with 50% accuracy and her prognostication will be shared and celebrated across the City of Worcester,” said Mayor Joseph Petty.
As declared by Cornelia the groundhog, Worcester can look forward to an early spring, as she did not, according to the scroll read by Petty, see her shadow.
Sen. Michael Moore, D-Millbury, District 2 City Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson, Joseph Bartulis Jr., chairman of EcoTarium Board of Trustees, and Henry Camosse of Camosse Masonry and the Worcester Chamber of Commerce, were also present.
This is the second year that Cornelia has presided over Groundhog Day at the EcoTarium since she arrived from an animal rehabilitation center in Ohio when she was 6 months old.
Her arrival also marked the return of the Groundhog Day tradition at the EcoTarium, which had not been held since before the pandemic and is now open by invitation to local school groups. The event was live streamed on Facebook to a number of local schools, with a visiting group from Marlborough preschool Cottage Children’s Center.