Lady Pioneers, Punxy Groundhog Inner Circle make wagers in Rain Day ‘hat bet’
Photo courtesy of the Rain Day Committee The Rainmaker, A.J. Dereume, a member of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle, holds Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog who leaves his tree-stump home every February in search of his shadow as a means of predicting when spring is coming. Dereume is one of the Rain Day hat bet contestants and is expected to bring Punxsutawney Phil with him to the Friday’s festival.
Photo courtesy of West Greene The West Greene varsity softball team that made it to the state championship game in June has one of two Rain Day hat bets on Friday with Waynesburg Mayor Duncan Berryman.
WAYNESBURG – Two hat bets have doubled the stakes for rain this year on Rain Day in Waynesburg.
This year’s hat day bet will be with West Greene’s championship softball team and another with the “Rainmaker” from the world-famous weather prognosticating Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle.
For years, the Waynesburg festival tradition has been that the borough’s mayor predicts rain on July 29. The opposing bets from the West Greene girls and the Rainmaker predict that it won’t rain. If it rains, the West Greene girls will owe Mayor Duncan Berryman a signed West Greene softball cap and the Rainmaker will also give Waynesburg a hat.
“We’re hoping it will be a top hat,” Rain Day Committee member Athena Bowman said.
If it doesn’t rain, the West Greene girls and the Rainmaker will get Rain Day ball caps.
The committee started planning the first bet in February and in May, made a bet with the Rainmaker, A.J. Dereume, one of men with weather-related nicknames who wears a top hat while pulling a groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, out of a tree stump every Feb. 2 to predict when spring is coming. A member of the Groundhog Club’s Inner Circle seemed like a perfect fit for a weather-related festival, Bowman said.
“I was doing research online and just thought that the Rainmaker would be the perfect bet to go along with the Rain Day theme,” Bowman said.
Dereume has been a member of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Circle since 2010 and is the fourth generation of his ancestors to participate in the groundhog tradition since the 1930s. Dereume, along with Punxsutawney Phil and other members of the Groundhog Inner Circle, are expected to attend the Rain Day celebrations around 7 p.m., according to a news release. Dereume’s top hat will be on the line if it rains Friday.
“Although A.J. and his hat have bonded over the past six years and made lots of great memories, he would be honored and proud if it were to be displayed in Waynesburg, Pa., in perpetuity,” the news release said.
The second hat bet came after the West Greene softball team made history this year by going to the state championship game in June. The team also won the Class-A WPIAL championship.
“I just thought it’d be another opportunity to pat them on the back and recognize them for all they’ve accomplished this year,” Berryman said. “The timing was right, the girls had a lot of success and we just wanted to follow it up with a hat bet.”
Melody Longstreth, executive director for the Waynesburg Chamber of Commerce, has been on the Rain Day Committee since the 1980s and said she’s seen two hat bets happen in the previous years.
“The girls at West Greene, because of their phenomenal achievements, we were very happy to have a second hat bet with them,” Longstreth said.
The festival will begin at 7 a.m. with a pancake breakfast and continue all day with live music, dancing, umbrella contests and vendors. The hat bet contestants are expected to take the stage around 6:30 p.m. and the festival will wrap up around 8 p.m.