After four years of fun, Buffalo Mack is taking a serious shot at Punxsutawney Phil. Each year, the Buffalo Inner Circle has invited the city to embrace winter and watch as a man in a groundhog suit becomes first in the nation to issue a prognostication of winter.

In 2018, the team from Buffalo Groundhog Day is bringing in a real live, groundhog--or Marmota monax--to help predict the weather. The first real groundhog to predict the weather in the history of Buffalo!

Local celebrity and animal expert Jarod Miller and a live groundhog will be the featured guests of the fifth annual Buffalo Groundhog Day celebration Noon-7:00pm on Saturday, January 27th at Flying Bison Brewing Company, 840 Seneca St.

Presale tickets are $30 and are available at buffalogroundhogday.com Each ticket includes a commemorative Buffalo Groundhog Day mug, live entertainment from two local bands, three beer tickets and a coupon worth $5 at
one food trucks participating in a food truck rodeo. Sponsorships are available. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Hawk Creek Wildlife Center and other local animal organizations.

Since its inception, The Buffalo Groundhog Day Society has donated more than $5,000 to Buffalo C.A.R.E.S. and the Buffalo Zoo. As per tradition, at the event, members of Buffalo's Inner Circle, wearing their official regalia, will awaken Buffalo Mack and his new live groundhog partner from hibernation, to look for their shadows as the first groundhogs to predict the weather for the next six weeks.