Coin Flip Calls for Six More Weeks of Winter at Snohomish GroundFrog Day

Snohomish residents can expect six more weeks of rain, according to the result of a coin flip at the city's GroundFrog Day event on Saturday. Tails would have signaled an early spring.

The tradition dates to 2006, when the Snohomish Chamber of Commerce created it as a local counterpart to Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog whose Feb. 2 prediction is watched across the country. Rather than wait for Groundhog Day, the chamber chose the last Saturday in January and an amphibian forecaster, hoping to learn early whether the gray gloom would break or stay.

The event was once a boisterous affair, but this year's version was modest. About 30 people gathered in the drizzle on the lawn of the Carnegie building downtown. Tad and Lil, the mascots of the city's summer festival Kla Ha Ya Days, delivered the official "frognostication."

The gathering also marked a handoff. Kla Ha Ya Days organizers will run future GroundFrog Days, as the chamber is shifting its focus away from the frog-themed event. "It was time to move on from this event," chamber director Nancy Keith said. "We have plans for a big nonprofit event during the holiday season."

Bill Webster, president of Kla Ha Ya Days, said the event will keep a similar format under the festival's management. Because Saturday's weather brought showers and no chance of a shadow, he devised the coin flip using a novelty oversized coin. "I happened to have a giant dime," he said. "I have a 50-50 chance of getting it right."

In past years, the forecast came from a real bullfrog named Snohomish Slew. If Slew croaked at the microphone, spring was expected soon; no croak meant six more weeks of winter. The frog became a local celebrity. In 2009 he arrived by gravel truck and was escorted by Girl Scouts to a picnic table under the gazebo before a crowd of 500. In 2014 he came by fire truck, and many attendees had frog face paint or carried stuffed amphibians. In 2018 he was paraded down the street by Snohomish High School athletes in letter jackets and dark sunglasses, and people lined up to kiss him.

Those appearances featured his handler, Thayer Cueter, known as the Edmonds "Frog Lady," who still drives around the county in a green VW van dedicated to rescuing unwanted amphibians and reptiles. Cueter and her collection of more than 10,000 frog items were featured in the 2014 edition of "Ripley's Believe It or Not! Reality Shock!" She runs the nonprofit Frogs & Friends Mobile Services, which offers outreach programs and camps, and the Pacific NW Turtle and Tortoise Rescue.

Cueter said bullfrogs do not live forever, and several different Slews have appeared in Snohomish over the years. She has not attended GroundFrog Day in recent years. The current Slew is used for educational purposes alongside a female frog. "We are now on Slew No. 4 and his now girlfriend partner in crime," she said.

Her rescue houses 18 live frogs and 66 turtles, and she owns more than 20,000 frog collectibles. "I'm looking for a museum site," she said.