Will we have an early spring? Or will we endure six more weeks of winter? Mount Joy Minnie knows, and she'll give her answer to these questions on Groundhog Day, Tuesday, Feb. 2.

"This year we're going to go virtual," said Kerry Meyers, executive director of the Mount Joy Chamber of Commerce. "Normally, we would hold our Groundhog Day celebration at the town clock in Mount Joy, but we can't do that this year due to COVID-19 restrictions."

Instead, Minnie will appear on Facebook and will give her prediction at approximately 7:10 a.m.

"We have new handlers for Minnie this year," remarked Meyers, noting that Minnie doesn't require a lot of "handling," since she's a stuffed animal. "Even though we'll be doing things online this year, we'll still do what we have always done, and our handlers will discuss with Minnie whether she's seen her shadow or not."

Minnie's handlers this year will be Carl Hackman of Northwest Bank and Greg Sallade of State Farm Insurance Agency.

This year's event will still feature a crazy hat contest as in years past. "We would normally judge the hats by applause, but this year, we are asking people to post their pictures on the Facebook event page or email them to me at the Chamber," Meyers explained.

Prizes will be awarded for the best hats, courtesy of event sponsor Keystone Lawn Company.

Mount Joy Minnie has been predicting the seasons for many years, Meyers noted. The event even drew the attention of the Wall Street Journal last year when the paper included it in a feature on local Groundhog Day events.

"We didn't want to cancel this year, even though we had to do things a little differently," Meyers stated. "People really enjoy it. We're trying to keep things as normal as possible, and this is something we always do, so we wanted to do it again this year. It's just a fun thing to do."

To view the Mount Joy Minnie Groundhog Day event, readers may visit http://www.facebook.com/mountjoychamber.