The late film writer/director Harold Ramis put Woodstock, Ill., on the map in a very big way with his 1993 movie “Groundhog Day.”
To celebrate his legacy, an auditorium at the Woodstock Theatre (209 Main Street) will be dedicated in his honor at 10 a.m. Saturday immediately prior to the showing of “Groundhog Day” (admission is free) as part of the city’s annual Groundhog Days festival. (The film will also be screened at 10 a.m. Feb. 1). A plaque will be placed outside the entrance to the theater’s Auditorium 1, and a framed letter written by Ramis, who passed away in 2014, will be placed in theater lobby near an original film poster autographed by script co-writer Danny Rubin.
In the movie, a television weatherman (Bill Murray), sent to cover the annual emergence of a groundhog from its underground lair, gets caught in an “endless loop” of the same day, forced to relive it over and over until he gets it right. Along the way he falls in love with a television producer (Andie McDowell), making the situation all the more complicated.
Groundhog Days is a Woodstock citywide festival celebrating the filming “Groundhog Day,” which features many locations in the community of including the Woodstock Theatre.
For more information on the festival events, call (815) 334-2620 or visit www.woodstockgroundhog.org.
