Woodstock Groundhog Days to feature ‘Ned Ryerson’ actor Stephen Tobolowsky; full schedule announced for 2025

Stephen Tobolowsky, known to “Groundhog Day” fans as Ned Ryerson, will be back at Woodstock Groundhog Days for the 2025 festivities.

According to a schedule of events posted to the official Woodstock Groundhog Days website, Tobolowsky will be at a meet and greet from noon to 1 p.m. on Feb. 1, leading up to the groundhog’s big weather reveal the following day at Woodstock Square.

The meet and greet with the actor will be held at Read Between the Lynes bookstore at 111 E. Van Buren Street, Woodstock, according to the website.

Woodstock Willie is held by handler Mark Szafran as Willie looks to see if he can see his shadow Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, during the annual Groundhog Day Prognostication on the Woodstock Square. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver)

“Stephen will be on hand to say ‘Bing!’, demonstrate his belly button trick and sign copies of his books,” which include “The Dangerous Animals Club,” “Cautionary Tales” and “My Adventures With God,” according to the website.

Tobolowsky has been to Woodstock for Groundhog Days before, and was at the groundhog prognostication in 2019. He said in an interview with the Northwest Herald that year that he would be at the Opera House talking about the film and his book that didn’t have anything to do with the movie.

The 2025 prognostication will be the morning of Feb. 2, a Sunday. Early that morning, with the lead-up to the big reveal beginning at 6:30 a.m., Woodstock Willie will let us know if we’re doomed to six more weeks of winter or if we’ll get an early spring.

After Woodstock Willie predicts our fate, the Drink to World Peace will take place at the newly opened Squire on the Square inside the Old Courthouse.

Another new thing at the festivities is a Groundhog Day 5K run that will take place the morning of Feb. 1. According to a route of the run published on the website, the path goes by a lot of places in the movie, like the Cherry Tree Inn, the Pennsylvanian Hotel (Opera House) and Gobbler’s Knob (the Square).

Groundhog festivities will kick off Thursday, Jan. 30 with Groundhog storytime and the “Welcoming of the Groundhog,” both scheduled to take place in the evening at the Woodstock Old Courthouse.

The full list of Groundhog Days events can be found at woodstockgroundhog.org/.