SNOHOMISH – The townspeople anxiously awaited the arrival of the all-knowing amphibian.
Music played. A man in a frog costume gestured along with the verbal promptings of a man behind a microphone to build the anticipation to a fever pitch.
Dan Bates / The Herald
Green umbrellas with protruding frog eyes were held aloft. Tables displayed stuffed frogs, paper frogs, Gummi frogs. A float was caked with green frog decorations.
The story of how the frog, Snohomish Slew, came to the town was told.
“The wild pigs that ran naked in the forest told the frog to seek the valley where the river runs pink with salmon,” townsman Daryl Bertholet read to the crowd of about 200.
Children played and crowded toward the stage set up for the forecasting frog who would answer two big questions:
When will the weather change?
Who will win the Super Bowl?
A semitruck adorned with frog decorations on the grille and dash pulled up and a man disembarked holding a carrying case covered in green cloth. Surrounded by umbrella-toting escorts, he made his way to the stage to the sounds of loud rock music and raucous cheers.
Proclamations were read. Finally, Snohomish Slew was pulled from the carrying case and rested in the hands of his caretaker.
Inaudible to the crowd, he whispered his predictions into the ears of his handlers:
“We will win,” he said of the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Wally Walsh, one of the caretakers, translated Slew’s prediction for the crowd.
Cheers.
“He spoke frog,” Walsh explained later.
Slew did not see his shadow.
“Eight more weeks of foggy, soggy weather is foretold,” Walsh said.
Groans.
The townspeople were reminded not to despair.
“We don’t care, ‘cause we know who’s going to win on Sunday, don’t we?” said Pam Osborne, who helped bring Slew to Snohomish.
Cheers again.
Osborne, of the Snohomish Chamber of Commerce, and others conceived of GroundFrog Day as the days grew shorter in the fall. Slew was chosen in honor of the oldest event at the city’s oldest festival – the frog-jumping contest at summer Kla Ha Ya Days.
Actually, Slew was flown in frozen, in a state of suspended animation, from New York with six other frogs and anointed as the “frognosticator.”
GroundFrog Day started as the town’s version of Groundhog Day in Punxsatawney, Pa., originally inspired by the European pagan ceremony of Candlemas, signifying the pending return of spring. The connection between the festivals was strengthened this week when football teams from both states ascended to the greatest game in the land.
When the groundhog, Punxsatawney Phil, emerged Thursday morning, “he immediately went back into his hole in fear,” Snohomish Mayor Randy Hamlin told the crowd. “I think that’s a prediction we can carry to the game on Sunday.”
So confident of the local team’s victory was Hamlin that he placed a call to Punxsatawney Mayor Jim Wehrle on Monday, proposing a wager. Wehrle enthusiastically accepted, Hamlin said, and each mayor will put up a basket of goodies to be named later.
“I’m looking forward to sampling the basket” from Punxsatawney, Hamlin said.
Meanwhile, Slew was taken to his new home at Flower World nursery in Maltby, and the townspeople went home happy.
“I think this is the perfect solution to winter blues,” said townswoman Lynn Schilaty, dressed in green. “I think it is exactly what we need at this time of year.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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