A group of Mainers say Passy Pete the Lobster has predicted six more weeks of summer at an annual ceremony.
The crustacean has been fished out of the Passagassawakeag River at Belfast, Maine, for the past three years in a tradition modeled after famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil’s winter prediction in Pennsylvania.
David Crabiel begins untying the scroll selected by Passy Pete (held by Mayor Walter Ash, left) that determines whether the Midcoast will have more summer or an early winter.
David Crabiel and his business partner, David Brassbridge, thought up the eccentric ceremony as a way to have some fun. Each year, a group of “Belfast Barons” flank Passy Pete as he picks a scroll to determine whether Maine will see an extended summer or be greeted by winter.
This year’s ceremony took place Monday.
Crabiel told WLBZ-TV Pete’s been right the past two years. Brassbridge said they hope to carry on the tradition.
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