Milltown Mel, the beloved groundhog who predicted the weather on Feb. 2 for the past six years, has passed away. SCOTT FRIEDMAN MILLTOWN — The beloved Milltown Mel, the soothsaying groundhog, has passed away.
“I think it was a combination of his age and the hot air,” said Councilman Jerry Guthlein, Mel’s owner.
Mel passed away during the middle of last week.
Guthlein said his family has had Mel for about seven years.
“Mel was a few weeks old when we got him. … He was the size of a hamster and we would bottle-feed him,” he said.
Guthlein said Mel was a very playful groundhog, almost cat-like.
“He loved to be scratched on the back of his head,” he said.
Every Feb. 2, Milltown Mel was the center of attention as the public gathered for the annual Milltown Groundhog Day celebration in the parking lot of the American Legion. The celebrations were led by the Milltown Wranglers, including Guthlein, fellow Councilman Ron Dixon, Fire Official Jack Bicsko, Russ Einbinder and others dressed in black coats and black top hats.
The celebrations, which began six years ago, were an evolution of the Guthlein family’s own observance of the holiday.
Guthlein, owner of the Bronson & Guthlein Funeral home in the borough, recalled that his wife, Cathy, was sick for a time, and when he went to visit her in the hospital, the movie “Groundhog Day” was always on.
When Guthlein would ask how she was doing, she would always say the same thing: “About the same.”
“You are like Bill Murray,” Guthlein would reply.
He promised her that when she got better, they would go to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where a Groundhog Day event is held every year. They went years later, and ever since, have celebrated the holiday, later deciding that Milltown needed a Groundhog Day event of its own.
Thus, they purchased a groundhog from a farm in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, and named him Milltown Mel. And with the blessing of then-Mayor Gloria Bradford and Mel’s predictions, a borough tradition was born.
Milltown Mel’s long-range forecasts had a decent record of 5-1. This past February, Mel predicted six more weeks of winter to the dismay of the crowd.
Guthlein said Milltown Mel has a friend, which they have also named Mel. He said they would have to wait and see if Mel the second can take on the tradition of the Milltown Groundhog Day celebration.