One of the joys of passing through small towns is seeing how the celebration and/or marketing of a local icon shapes the landscape. Often the signs and statues commemorate a famous resident, no matter how short a time they actually lived there. For example, if you drive through Hardinville, Kentucky, you'll notice a monument to Abraham Lincoln in the town square, banners for the 200th anniversary of his birth on the light posts, and an ice cream stand with Honest Abe's solemn face on the sign, even though Lincoln's family departed the area when the future president was seven years old. The honouree doesn't have to be human. Closer to home, one cannot pass through Wiarton without encountering the name or smiling visage of Wiarton Willie, who many Ontario residents may want to shake their fists at after this week's blast of winter (Willie's 2009 forecast called for a long one). Wiarton's association with Groundhog Day began in 1956, when resident Mac Mackenzie invited, depending on the source, twenty or one hundred friends up to the town for a party to break the winter blues. A Toronto newspaper photographer showed up and asked Mackenzie where the groundhog was. Mackenzie grabbed a fur hat to sub in for a live animal, a photo was taken and the legend began. This wasn't the end of sly substitutions, as mourners discovered in 1999 when the corpse of a woodchuck filled in for a recently deceased Willie who had quickly decomposed. Festivities gradually grew to include real, usually albino, groundhogs alongside activities like obstacle courses, parades, and outdoor shinny.

Motor coach terminal, Bay and Edward streets, Toronto, December 19, 1931. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 16, Series 71, Item 9041. When intercity bus travel arrived in Toronto during the 1920s, passengers had to make due with open air terminals that offered little in terms of comfort.  The growth of the Toronto Transit Commission's Gray Coach Lines division fuelled the need for a permanent structure to provide services to weary travellers. On December 19, 1931, local and provincial dignitaries gathered to officially open the Gray Coach Terminal (now the Toronto Coach Terminal) for passenger service, with a promise that the doors would be open at all hours of the day. Dundas and Bay, Gray Lines Terminal, June 16, 1928. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 16, Series 71, Item 5943. The terminal was built on the site of an existing open-air depot at the southwest corner of Bay and Edward. Construction appears to have been rapid—the preliminary layout of the building was made on site in April 1931, but pictures taken two months later revealed little progress. By December, the finishing touches were made and photographers were allowed to snap away before the first passengers arrived. Acting Premier, Attorney-General Price, severing silk tape that officially dispatched the first coach from the Bay St motor coach terminal, December 19, 1931. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 16, Series 71, Item 9029. The official ceremony was held at 12:30 p.m. Attorney-General W.H. Price, standing in for Premier George Stewart Henry, cut the ribbon. Mayor William James Stewart proceeded to buy the first ticket, a return trip from Hamilton. After half-an-hour of speeches, passengers boarded the first bus to the Steel City and were seen off by Price. "It must have been a surprise," noted the Globe, "to see a gentleman poke his head into the coach and on behalf of the province of Ontario wish all and sundry a Merry Christmas and add that he hoped their lives would be a pleasant as the bus and last as long as the new terminal."