PHOTO PROVIDED Each Groundhog Day, members of the Slumbering Lodge of Hibernating Governors in Quarryville gather together to march across the Jackson’s Sawmill Covered Bridge, over Octoraro Creek, to celebrate the holiday. Rather than getting weather predictions from Punxsutawney Phil, they look to the wisdom of Lancaster County groundhog, Octoraro Orphie. This photo was taken on Feb. 2, 1997.

Punxsutawney Phil might be the most famous weather-predicting groundhog, but he is not the only one.

Along the West Branch of the Octoraro Creek in Quarryville, the Slumbering Lodge of Hibernating Governors gather today, Groundhog Day, to seek the prediction of the wise groundhog of Lancaster County, Octoraro Orphie.

Dr. Oscar W. Knade, of Montoursville, became an associate member of the Slumbering Lodge in 1984 because his wife’s grandfather, William D. Herr, was one of the founders in 1907. Different members of the family have been involved in the lodge over the years.

“(Orphie) is the only groundhog to possibly provide an accurate weather forecast for the next six weeks,” Knade said.

Each Feb. 2, the members of the lodge dress in black top hats and white coats to march across the Jackson’s Sawmill Covered Bridge with a band leading the procession.

One of the primary differences between Orphie and Phil is that Orphie is not the same groundhog every year.

“A group of men form into a squad and they go find a groundhog hole someplace,” he said. “If we can’t find one, we substitute a stuffed groundhog.”

They then will see whether the groundhog sees its shadow. If it sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter, but if there is no shadow, spring soon will arrive, according to legend.

To give the report to the lodge members and local groundhog enthusiasts, someone stands on a manure spreader, Knade said. After that, some members will do a skit,

then proceed with a dunk into the creek in which one of the “baby groundhogs,” or new club members, will put on a leather suit and be strapped to a harness attached to a crane for dunking into the creek for a few seconds.

There were times when they had to break through the ice to dunk, he said. The member becomes the hero for the day.

“It’s a lot of hijinks … sometimes it’s more tongue-in-cheek than anything else,” Knade said.

Knade has not been to the celebration since 2010 but he still is a faithful and proud member of the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge.

While the first Groundhog Day in Quarryville was celebrated in 1908, that was the same year Punxsutawney Phil started to become more popular even though that club began in 1887, he said.

Orphie, Phil and other famous weather-predicting groundhogs across the country will make appearances today.

Among the allegedly clairvoyant groundhogs in the United States are:

• Grover the Groundhog, of Pine Grove;

• Pierre C. Shadeaux, of New Iberia, Louisiana;

• Murray, of Cumberland, Maryland;

• Sir Walter Wally, of Raleigh, North Carolina;

• Charles G. Hogg, of New York City;

• Buckeye Chuck, of Marion, Ohio; and

• Gen. Beauregard Lee, of Lilburn, Georgia.

David Martin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at State College, said he predicts Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow and winter will continue through March.

“It’s a safe bet,” he said.

Today’s weather may be partly sunny with a high of 32 degrees and a low around 13 degrees overnight, he said. Friday might be even colder with a high of 26 but partly sunny skies.