MILLTOWN – Milltown Mel, the toothy teller of the weather, will not be able to make his annual prediction.
The popular annual prediction is usually announced early in the morning on Feb. 2 before a crowd assembled in the parking lot of the Joyce Kilmer American Legion Post No. 25 on JFK Drive.
During the celebration, the Milltown Wranglers rally the crowd and wake up Mel from his slumber as people hold signs and blow party blowers.
The Milltown Groundhog Day celebration is an evolution of the Guthlein family’s own observance of the holiday. Jerry Guthlein, the former owner of the Bronson and Guthlein Funeral Home in the borough and a former councilman, has since passed the torch onto John McNamara and the rest of the Wranglers.
Last year was the sixth prediction for this particular Mel, who predicted six more weeks of winter in 2021, an early spring in 2020, six more weeks of winter in 2019 and early springs the previous three years.
The former Mel passed away in August 2015 after making a handful of favorable predictions over the years.
