Sunnyside Farms

While some urban areas might be known for a landmark or product first made there, not many can claim to be famous for impersonating another town. Located 45 miles from the large American city of Chicago, Woodstock, Illinois is a quiet farming municipality once known as “Typewriter City” for its factories that produced half of the world’s typewriters in the early 20th Century. In 1993, however, Woodstock would forever be changed by playing the part of a village over 500 miles away—Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. 

Directed by Harold Ramis, the celebrated movie Groundhog Day is set in Punxsutawney, where the annual tradition of having a groundhog decide whether there will be another 6 weeks of winter has been a storied tradition since 1887. Finding Woodstock’s town center to be a more charming film location with its old Victorian shops and courthouse, the Illinoian village was chosen over where the actual events take place. With the movie focusing on a man, Bill Murray, who ends up living Groundhog Day over and over again, various storefronts and streets from wintry Woodstock are heavily featured as the backdrop for the film’s antics. 

With the continued popularity of the film, fans from all over come to visit Woodstock, checking out familiar sites and streets from the movie. A plaque by the curb on Cass St. reads “Bill Murray stepped here,” memorializing a scene where Bill Murray stepped is a massive pothole of water trying to evade an “annoying” townsperson played by Stephen Tomblowski. Woodstock even has its own annual Groundhog Days celebrations in honor of its place in cinematic history. 

While some urban areas might be known for a landmark or product first made there, not many can claim to be famous for impersonating another town. Hmm. Didn’t you read that sentence before?

Written By: Seamus McMahon