5:30 a.m. - January 29 - Newark, OH - Walk with me.  Imagine yourself as a modern day Tocqueville trying to understand what makes an American city tick.  The temperature is 10 degrees yet cars are rolling into the parking lot of the local college campus.  As we enter the gymnasium, the local radio station is set up, doing a live broadcast in the lobby.  Some of the 500 attendees are already gathering inside hall.  The caterer, Doug, is making sure that hot coffee by the gallons is ready. 

We are greeted by the local judge, a banker and investment expert who help people locate their corporate tables.  The greeters are members of The Groundhog Committee, who like the Supreme Court, hold lifetime appointments and organize the Licking County Chamber of Commerce's annual Groundhog Breakfast (this is breakfast number 54 for the organization).  The greeters are talking with a broad cross-section of the business community gathering for the event at an ungodly hour in the morning.  No, groundhog meat will not be served.  Instead, eggs, bacon, biscuits and fruit will accompany the guests to their tables as they hear the prognostications for the coming year from the county's leading business organization.

No one yet knows it but the groundhog being escorted around by a local realtor and business leader is the Vice President of the local hospital.  Each year a well-known business leader sucks it up and secretly suits it up as the groundhog.  He or she walks around, waves, shakes paws and is unveiled at the end of the breakfast.  As an observer, you are puzzled now but will notice how pleasant everyone is.  Members of the business community, elected officials, community members and anyone else who shows up all mingle and talk as the band, Crash and Burn, sets up to begin playing rock and roll favorites for the crowd.

Before everything is over at 8:30 a.m. on this Friday morning in January, business leaders will hear the humorous economic forecast, see a review the past year's accomplishments, hear from the organization's President and listen to a speaker from one of the city's largest employers talk about the importance the business community and its involvement in the community - to supply volunteers for the Red Cross, participate in educational efforts, help with community clean-up efforts, and do the crucial good work needed.  The speaker will be preaching to the choir.  But it is okay.  The audience is receptive.  These business people donate and volunteer and guide and plan all the time.  They have molded a community rich in cultural resources, strong in business tradition and tight-knit in its make-up.

An award is even given to a local business man or woman who has provided remarkable community service.

The most frequent comment by newcomers is "how do you get this many people out at this time of day in the dead of winter?"  The answer is: "because that is when we hold the event."  The breakfast is not as easily described as experienced.  An incredible sense of community is contained within the hall.  These people are good people.  They are the community.

After the work is done, the speakers talked out and the place cleaned up, everyone heads back to work.  A morning together has been well worth the wake up.  If you were here, you would understand this place a good bit better.