The Amazing Woolly Worm Festival

The Woolly Worm Festival is the happenin’ event for connoisseurs of Americana. Its beauty and charm date back to the first part of the last century, when folks in these hills relied on the celebrated worm —some would call it a caterpillar— was used to predict winter weather patterns in the mountains.

This year something new is added: The First Annual Woolly Worm Woad Wace. This event allows people to compete in the racing festivities, and kicks off the weekend on Friday, Oct. 19 at 3 p.m. Race starts in Newland Town Square and runs 10 miles over Hickory Nut Gap Road to finish in Banner Elk. If you would like an application or additional information, call the Avery/Banner Elk Chamber of Commerce at 828/898-5605.

History of the Woolly Worm Festival

Prior to the world-famous Woolly Worm Festival, there was great conflict among mountain men who forecast winter weather. No one doubted that the Woolly Worm was the best predictor of the upcoming winter weather. It was just a matter of picking the right Woolly Worm. Once you had that, it was easy: there are 13 colored segments on the worm, each representing one of the 13 weeks of winter. The black segments represent cold, snowy weather; brown represents typical winter weather, and light brown means a warm spell.

In 1923, the Banner Elk Town Council appointed a committee to decide who should get the honor of picking the predicting worm. They began meeting on a regular basis in the Banner Elk Barber Shop, but they just could not decide who was the best person for the job. Some were clearly better at picking worms and some were better at predicting from the worms.

Since no clear decision could be made, they kept meeting and talking. They felt that pretty soon a good decision would be reached.

Chaos reigned over weather prediction in the high mountains of North Carolina for many years. This committee had studied the problem over and over until finally about 1977, a young man named Jimmy Morton offered a solution: invite everybody to come and watch the Woolly Worms race, so no one could doubt that the worm was chosen fairly.

The Woolly Worm Festival was born!