• Groundhog Greeting Cards
  • Groundhog Celebrations
    • B) Puttin' On the Ritz
    • I) Polka Pair
    • J) Blank/Custom
    • K) A Toast to GH day
    • S) Party Hog
  • Active Groundhog Lifestyle
    • A. Skater
    • C) More snow
    • H) Exercyclist
    • M) Sledding
  • Groundhog Dreamin'
    • E) Overslept
    • F) Hog Heaven
    • G) Gardener's Dream
    • N) Spring Dreams
  • Groundhog Characters
    • D) Weather or not--
    • L) Writing Big Sleep
    • O) Adds Up to GH Day
    • Q) Rockin' GH Day
    • R) Dude
• A Groundhog Day Birthday Card
• A Groundhog Day Salute to Those Who Serve
• New! Plush Groundhog
• Ordering Information
• Groundhog Underground
  • About Groundhog Day
  • Groundhog Day Celebrations
  • National Groundhog Day Holiday
  • Groundhogs for Science
  • Groundhogs in Alaska
• About Us

Groundhog Enterprises of Fairbanks, Alaska, is a partnership between Karen Farrell and Lael Morgan. They've been creating Groundhog Day cards for their own amusement since1990 but did not start selling to the public until l994, and then only on a local basis. A year later, despite a lack of advertising and their distant location (just 130 miles south of the Arctic Circle), they began getting orders from merchants in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, nationally recognized as headquarters for the February 2 holiday.

What got them started originally was the "Christmas Problem." Morgan, a professor at the Department of Journalism and Broadcasting, University of Alaska Fairbanks, had come to loathe Christmas after too many years of ad copy writing--"Angels we have seen on high, tell us it's time to buy!" She'd stopped sending Christmas cards after the holiday lost its place in her heart because mailing them seemed hypercritical. On the other hand, she missed keeping in touch with old friends. Finally, in 1989, she decided to pick her own holiday and after long and serious research, settled on Groundhogs Day.

Unfortunately most artist renditions of the Marmota monax, the scientific name for our North American species, are lump like, broad cartoons which--to put it tactfully--lacked charisma. Nor does the average photo give viewers much idea of groundhog charm. Having been raised in rural Maine, which has more than its share of groundhogs (locally called woodchucks), Morgan knew the furry little critters had distinct personalities and set out to find an artist who could do them justice.

Enter Karen Farrell, a designer/illustrator living in Fairbanks, who empathizes with all small, fur-coated creatures. Challenged by Morgan's quest to create a distinctive groundhog celebrating winter without fear of lurking shadows, Farrell set about rendering the rodent reclining out of doors, hoisting a dry martini as if to toast the snowflakes which lightly fell about his lawn chair. 

Farrell rarely finds the opportunity to draw with such whimsy while otherwise employed at her design service, 5th Avenue Design, in Fairbanks. Drawing groundhogs is a break from the ordinary--and so too are the greeting cards born from the personal visions of these two partners.