Thousands made the annual pilgrimage to Punxsutawney last night, leaving State College in the early hours of the morning, to partake in the uniquely American holiday known as Groundhog Day.

State College is situated 100 miles away from the famous prognosticator and many students took the opportunity to witness the fortune-telling.

"We left State College at about 1:30 [in the morning]," Natalie Sacco (senior-art education).

Sacco said that the chance to come to Groundhog Day was just too sweet to pass up.

"When am I ever going to be in central Pennsylvania for this again," she said.

The direction of traffic driving into Punxsutawney proved to be a true accomplishment of civil engineering and the usually stressful situation of finding a parking space was relieved completely by the volunteers in Punxsutawney.

Buses from these parking areas were arranged to transport fellow Groundhog enthusiasts to Gobbler's Knob, home to the 120 year old oracle.

"I have no idea what to expect," Beth Leri (senior-public relations) said.

The Knob, which was 1.5 miles from downtown, hosted an organized bonfire party attended by thousands. At the focal point of all this was a stage built around a tree-stump that Phil calls home.

Giant red balloons bounced in the crowd until, bang, someone would pop one. Lucky, the condoms that were blown up to replace the red balloons were much harder to pop.

"This place is wild," Temi Adeyeye (senior-industrial engineering) said. "I never thought it would be like this."

The host launched T-shirts high above the crowd, and a lucky few were able to catch one and adorn their chests with "Everybody loves Phil."

Other than watching the stage, an array of food selections was available around the perimeter of the compound. Hotdogs and Sloppy-Joe's for $1. However some, who were more tired than hungry, took naps using tree-bark for pillows. But these day-sleepers were surly awoken by the booms of the fireworks show that occurred shortly before dawn.

"I thought the fire works were spectacular," Diane Morgan, a State College nurse said.

Morgan said that once she heard that her daughter was coming to the event she was jealous and immediately made plans to come as well.

"It sounded like a great idea," she said.

Finally around 7 a.m. and in a moment of sheer delight, a former Klingon extra in everyone's favorite traditional Groundhog Day television show, Star Trek, led the thousands in the National Anthem.

A group of students discussed the singing.

"Nothing like the national anthem on G-hog day," one said.

Then the crowd parted for the Inner Circle to parade to the stage in traditional G-hog garb. Top hats with long black coats proved America did have its own culture after all.

One member even wore a clock around his neck so large it would make Flavor Flav jealous.

"Ben has the big clock, I have a big ... hat size," a member of the Inner Circle appropriately told the crowd once on stage.

The buzz of a rebellious crowd supersedes the event and has even led to the banishment of alcohol within the Knob in recent years -- but what was witnessed last night showed nothing more than a crowd in utter desperation for a chance of an early spring.

"Who wants spring? Who wants winter?" the spokesman for the inner circle said. "It doesn't matter, it's what Phil sees."

When it was time to bring out Phil, the crowd chanted "Phil, Phil, Phil."

At 7:23 a.m. Bill Deeley, Phil's handler, knocked on the stump and brought him out. Since he was the only one that spoke Groundhogese, he translated for the crowd.

"It's my shadow I see. Six more weeks of mild winter there will be," Phil garbled in Groundhogese to his handler.

An outburst of profanity and other negative comment made toward Phil followed.

"That is 100 percent ridiculous," a guy said to his friend.