Woolly Worm Festival

A couple of weekends ago, Kenyon and I attended a local community event worth writing about. I've been to art fairs here, it was nice, but small with a crowd of only a few hundred at best. We attended the Latino Festival in West Jefferson. That was teeny-tiny and not well attended. Then we went to the Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk. Driving there we actually experienced some traffic (a rarity in this part of the world). Police were directing cars from a few miles out of the city limits. There were parking lots set up charging fares to park. I'd never seen such hubbub.

We arrived and the festival was charging $5 a head for admission. What?! They are charging admission? There were at least 500 people in attendance at the time we arrived. I haven't seen so many people in one place since arriving here. There were rows and rows of booths featuring foods and crafts. What was all the excitement about? Just wait till I tell you...

All of these people came to see one thing. All of this traffic was related to one main event. This is the Woolly Worm Festival and it is aptly titled. We all came out to watch fuzzy worms race up a string. I use the term race loosely, because this is not a fast-paced event. People come from other states with the worm they believe to be a champion. There are 50+ races in one day and about 20 racers per race. The people line up in front of a string. Put their worm at the green line and hope theirs is the first to make it to the red line. If your worm makes it first you win $25 and a chance in the semi-finals. The semi-final racers win $50 and a chance in the final race. The winner of the final race wins $1,000. That piece of information made Kenyon want to bring a worm next year.

The rules of the race state, you can't touch your worm or the string once the race has begun (unless the worm falls off the string, then you can place them back on the green line). In order to encourage their worm to race people clap and blow near the worm. The funniest part to me was watching grown, burly men encourage their worm to move. I got a photo of a big, hunky, muscly man walking of stage delicately holding his worm. What irony!

Before I put this post I thought, no one's going to believe this! If you need to see such a thing with your own eyes. The annual Wolly Worm Festival is held the third weekend of October every year, come on out.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. The winning worm is supposed to predict the winter weather. I don't really understand that part, but some people swear it is an accurate prediction. Really?