LEOMINSTER — Featherstone the wise flamingo has once again predicted an early spring, much to the delight of those who are not a fan of the upcoming negative wind chill factors this weekend.
Mayor Dean Mazzarella and the wading bird made the call early Thursday morning in Monument Square, where the eighth annual tradition drew dozens of people despite the frigid temps that hovered in the mid-20s but had a feel of high teens.
The sun had been trying to peek out earlier but was behind the clouds when Mazzarella made the announcement right at 8 a.m. on the day otherwise known as Groundhog Day standing beside the plastic pink flamingo and a large stuffed flamingo companion. Although Featherstone saw his shadow last year, which can indicate a longer winter, the feathered soothsayer also predicted an early spring in 2021 and 2020.
“The flamingo is iconic,” Mazzarella noted of the lawn ornament that was invented by Don Featherstone in 1957 while working for Union Products, Inc. of Leominster, which still produces the lawn ornaments today, and has become a city symbol. Featherstone resided in Fitchburg, where he kept 57 plastic flamingos on his back lawn, and he and his wife Nancy dressed alike for over 35 years.
Fitchburg resident Paula Goden had her two granddaughters, Sarah Goden, 4, and Emma Goden, 2, both Leominsterites, in tow at the downtown event. The grandmother said she has brought them to the annual event before and that she enjoys coming to watch.
“I like going to anything the mayor does,” Paula Goden shared.
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Thursday morning, which according to lore means six more weeks of winter and contradicted Featherstone’s prophecy. Mazzarella poked fun at the infamous Pennsylvania groundhog, saying that “once the rat is gone nobody puts a rat on their lawn.”
Mazzarella was dressed in his usual flamingo themed getup that included a top hat, flamingo embroidered shorts, a navy-blue sweatshirt featuring a flamingo patch he said Alan’s Department Store made for him, and a colorful patchwork jacket gifted to him by late city resident Joe Goodhue, “a very artistic very creative entrepreneur” who the mayor said invented frozen bread dough.
Representatives from Leominster Credit Union attended along with City Hall staff and a number of area residents. Ron Girouard from Leominster Access Television filmed the occasion, and it was also livestreamed on Facebook.
“It’s always cold,” Mazzarella noted of the typical weather for the annual happening.
Ms. G, Massachusetts’s official state groundhog who historically has a more likeable prediction record than Punxsutawney Phil, indicated an early spring during a ceremony from her home at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln — she also did not see her shadow.
