Furry prophets race to predict weather
Annual Woolly Worm Festival returns to Banner Elk this October
BANNER ELK-It all comes down to a couple inches of string. Every October in the North Carolina town of Banner Elk, racers line up for their chance at history. In a tradition that stretches back 42 years, adults and kids gently bring boxes up to the starting line and take out their woolly worms, encouraging the creatures to start climbing up the closest rope. True, the winning worm does bring home $1,000 for its “trainer” but there’s a bit more to the prize at the annual Woolly Worm Festival. The winner also becomes the latest winter forecaster for the area, with judges determining if there will be snow in Banner Elk by the color of its fur.
“There’s not many places that race woolly worms now,” said Melynda Pepple, executive director for the Avery County Chamber of Commerce. “It’s something everyone takes pride in.”
It’s also one of the oldest competitions of its kind still going in the United States. A Woolly Worm Festival in Kentucky just turned 32 and a Woolly Bear Caterpillar Festival in Ohio is the only one slightly older, having started on Oct. 1, 1973. There is one exception to that, however. The Ohio festival gets moved around, according to its website, to the “first Sunday in October when the (Cleveland) Browns are either not playing or have an away game.”
Do we believe?
Some people may scratch their head at the idea, but using woolly worms to predict the weather is something that dates all the way back to colonial days. Each worm has 13 body segments with either a rusty brown or black color. Forecasters use the color of those segments to determine what the upcoming winter will be like.
“The more brown segments there are, the milder the coming winter will be,” states the Old Farmer’s Almanac. “The more black there is, the more severe the winter.”
In Banner Elk, the festival forecasters offer a slightly different take from the almanac.
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“If the woolly worm is light brown, then we expect a winter with above average temperatures,” Pepple explained, adding that for Banner Elk, an average temperature in winter is around 27 degrees Fahrenheit. “If the worm is dark brown, then we’ll have below average temperatures. A black worm tells us that there’s a lot of snow on the way and a “flick” worm, one that’s a mix of brown and black, means we’ll be getting some frost or light snow.”
Are the woolly worms accurate? Well, according to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Dr. C.H. Curran tested that very theory in 1948. He took his wife to Bear Mountain State Park that fall and collected as many woolly worms as he could in one day, recording the colors on each. He did that each of the next eight years, publishing his information in the New York Herald Tribune. Dr. Curran’s study found the woolly worms were correct 80 percent of the time. He cautioned readers not to take his study too seriously, however, as Curran said he had too small of a sample size of the furry weather prophets to provide definite proof.
Building to give back
Former Mountain Living magazine editor Jim Morton helped come up with the idea for the project. He wanted to use a woolly worm forecast in the magazine’s 1978 winter issue and took a picture of the first one he saw. However, that one was brown and the very next day he found one that was nearly all black. He started thinking there needed to be some kind of contest to help decide which worm to trust. After some discussion with local business owners, an official Woolly Worm Festival Association was formed and soon after, the first event was held, with races set up to determine which worm became the forecaster.
In a statement on the festival website, Morton explains that he came up with the method of racing the worms while trying to pick one up. He was scared to pick it up, Morton said, afraid it might try to sting him. Instead, he grabbed a blade of grass and held in front of the worm. Shortly after, the worm started to climb it.
Now the races have grown into two days worth of competition. The rules are simple.Registration starts at 9 a.m. each day, with more than 1,000 competitors expected. It costs $5 to register your worm and name it. In the past, the festival has seen “Dale Wormhardt” enter, as well as “Wormzilla” and Once you sign up, you’ll be given a number and a heat for your worm to compete in. Your worm will have to race 42 inches up a vertical string, one attached to the backboard of a flatbed trailer. The rules allow you to yell and whistle, if you want, in order to motivate your worm to go faster.
Each heat consists of 25 worms and they run from 10 a.m. until the grand finale each day at 4 p.m. Saturday’s winner is crowned as the actual winter forecaster and wins the $1,000 prize. Sunday’s are more for fun, but there’s still a $500 prize to compete for.
But the festival is about more than just races and predictions. The two-day event, which runs this year on October 19 and 20 at the Historic Banner Elk Elementary School, brings in more than 16,000 people each year to listen to local music, take part in dancing, play games, enjoy the rides and check out more than 160 food and craft vendors. Most of all, it’s about giving back. There is a $6 fee for adults and $4 fee for children 6 and up to come into the festival. That money goes to help the local community.
“All the proceeds go to our schools, children’s programs and nonprofits,” Pepple said. “We have a grant process where they submit requests to the Kiwanis Club. I think that’s part of what’s helped us keep this festival going through the years. We’re not focused on ourselves. We’re doing this to help our children and schools.”
The event is held at the Historic Banner Elk Elementary School, located at 185 Azalea Circle in Banner Elk. For more information about the festival, visit woollyworm.com or contact the Avery County Chamber of Commerce at 1–800–972–2183.
