BELFAST — Steven Ryan, of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, greeted the crowd gathered near Belfast’s waterfront for the fourth annual Passy Pete Sept. 3.

The event is a play on the well-established Groundhog Day, where a groundhog is pulled from his burrow to check for the presence of his shadow; should he see it, six more weeks of winter are declared in order. What Passy Pete lacks in fur and teeth, he makes up for in tail flips and claws, and of course, clairvoyance.

“This is a great event, a great ritual. This is the fourth year that this has been administered right here in Heritage Park on Belfast Harbor. It is an event where a mysterious group of locals, called the Belfast Barons, are able to mind-meld with a clairvoyant crustacean named Passy Pete and to prognosticate the length of our continuing good weather,” Ryan said.  

The event, where this year’s Passy Pete is plucked from the shallows of Penobscot Bay in order to use its psychic abilities to predict whether there will be six more weeks of summer or an early winter, takes place every Labor Day.

Last year’s event was picked up by the worldwide media, with event organizer and Belfast Baron David Crabiel, telling the crowd, “I read all the comments on newspapers throughout the world, and my favorite, I have to say, was the Daily Mail, in England, and somebody commented ‘strange crustaceans lying in ponds distributing weather predictions is no basis for a system of meteorology,’” he told a laughing crowd.   

Passy Pete accomplishes the feat with the aid of the Belfast Barons, a group easily identified by their top hats and T-shirt tuxedos, who hoist the shellfish from its wooden crate before placing it before two scrolls. Pete is left with a choice between scrolls, with the winner being read aloud before the crowd.

In the past three years, Pete has correctly predicted six more weeks of summer, but that run of good fortune came to an end this year when Crabiel declared there would not be six additional weeks of summer, and an early winter lay ahead.

“We have the scrolls,” Crabiel called to the crowd as he prepared the scrolls for a waiting Passy Pete.

“Passy Pete the clairvoyant crustacean, was coaxed from the fertile waters of the Penobscot Bay at 10 a.m. by his friends and fellow tourist lovers, the Belfast Barons, and by the cheers of his adoring fans,” Crabiel said to a fresh round of cheers and applause. “Pete winked to the crowd, glanced toward the loving waters of his home, and majestically, in lobsterese, he directed the Barons to this scroll, which reads:

‘The clouds are getting swirly, the crowds are growing squirrely, my safety I overlooked, for I may soon be cooked, for winter will come early,’” Crabiel said over loud boos.

“That’s it, the first time in four years he’s picked an early winter,” he added.

Though the crowd was briefly disappointed at the news, the feeling was quickly replaced by one of cheer, with Passy Pete making the rounds among his many admirers.

After the conclusion of the ceremony, Pete was returned to the waters of Penobscot Bay with a gracious thank you from his human hosts.

Additional photos

Erica Thoms can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com