In celebration of eighteen years of elected prognosticators in The Park, The Board of Governors of The Park Museum is pleased to announce that its exhibit, “The Means and the Message: An Appreciation of the Prognostication Pad” will become an annual Museum event.

“This multimedia exhibit honours not only those who have been elected Park Official Prognosticator of Spring (POPS), but the means that they have used to make their predictions: the prognostication pad. We are thrilled to be able to offer this exhibition as an annual event and we’d like to thank the Park Builders’ Guild for their support of this endeavour,” said resident curator Dorika Pumi.

The Winter-long exhibit showcases the evolution of the prognostication pad throughout the past decade, putting the pad in historical context, and demonstrating the way in which its use has changed the office and duties of the prognosticator as well as the way in which spectators view the prediction.

Included in the exhibit are pad architects’ blueprints, messages, notes, and correspondence, press interviews with Chief organizer Wyatt Whistlepig, Jr., and videotaped interviews with former prognosticators. Throughout the Winter, the museum will also host Q&A sessions with architects and with journalists who have covered The Park’s Groundhog Day celebrations over the years.

The exhibit also features memorabilia from POPS campaigns, including posters, flyers, buttons, newspaper interviews, television and radio interviews and recorded speeches, as well as original documents from court challenges to the predictions.

“The Means and the Message: A Decade of Prognostication Pads” will run annually from 1 January until 31 March.