The Woolly Worm Festival: A Caterpillar Forecasts the Winter
Near Banner Elk, North Carolina
Every October, downtown Banner Elk hosts one of the most delightfully odd events in the southern mountains: the Woolly Worm Festival, where a fuzzy caterpillar is asked to predict the coming winter. The tradition began in nineteen seventy-eight, drawing on the woolly worm's place in mountain folklore. According to that folklore, the thirteen colored bands on a woolly worm caterpillar stand for the thirteen weeks of winter.
A brown band promises a mild week, while a black band warns of a cold and snowy one. Because every caterpillar wears a slightly different pattern, the festival cannot simply pick one. Instead it holds races, sending worms crawling up lengths of string.
The first festival was small, with just eight heats and sixty-three worms. The string is three feet of nylon, and worms will climb it if they are in the moving mood. Saturday's champion earns a cash prize and, more importantly, the honor of setting the official forecast for the high country.
What started as a small gathering now draws large crowds and many vendors. It is a wonderful reminder that in the mountains, weather wisdom and good-natured fun have always traveled together. Martin Banner founded the first permanent settlement here in eighteen forty-eight, and the area was known as Banner's Elk until the name was shortened when the town incorporated in nineteen eleven.
