Banner Elk Woolly Worm Festival celebrates successful downtown return in 2021
BY JAMIE SHELL
D
espite uncharacteristically warm temperatures leading up to the festival weekend, Mother Nature flipped a switch to bring back typical fall weather, as a wet and damp beginning to the opening day of the 44th Annual Banner Elk Woolly Worm Festival on Saturday, Oct. 16, gave way to a cooler afternoon to close the first day, with sun reigning on Sunday to close the two days of activities. Thousands of visitors flocked again to downtown Banner Elk on both Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 16 and 17, following a 2020 festival that was curtailed to a single race in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With returning patrons came the other facets of the festival that attendees know and love, including the more than 150 arts and crafts vendors selling their wares to food vendors providing tantalizing aromas and palate satisfiers, with everything from doughnuts to barbecue available on offer. Also present were various local organizations who pitched in to make 54
2021-22 WORMY WINTER WEATHER FORECAST
PHOTO BY MARISA MECKE The 2021 Banner Elk Woolly Worm Festival’s Saturday champion worm owner Eric Wood of Hickory (front row with blue ribbon), is joined onstage by various dignitaries who help to make the festival possible. Pictured are Dr. William Burrow, Mary Jo Brubaker (Woolly Worm Committee Chair), Shawn Stricklen, Adam Binder, Sarah Dewitt, head official and worm reader Tommy Burleson, Wood, Jason Dewitt, Avery Chamber Director Anne Winkelman, Deanna Acklin and Erin Spear.
the event take place, with efforts that ranged from raising funds through offering parking services near the festival grounds in town to the regular and repeated collection of trash throughout the weekend that accumulated on the festival grounds by longtime festival supporters the Civil Air Patrol. “The event was awesome, despite the rain on
Saturday,” Avery Chamber of Commerce Director Anne Winkleman said of the atmosphere, camaraderie and the success of the festival. “There was so much excitement up on the stage, and the weather didn’t slow anybody down. There was so much pent-up excitement.” The stars of the weekend, and each festival for more than four decades now, are the woolly
worms themselves, as they attempt to wiggle their way up a three-foot string for glory (and cash for the winning owners). Following an arduous day of racing, the last worm standing following dozens of quarterfinal and semifinal races over the day was owned/trained by Eric Wood from Hickory, who took home the $1,000 grand prize. Wood stated that he
By virtue of its victory in the championship race at the 2021 Banner Elk Woolly Worm Festival, the winning worm predicts the upcoming 13 weeks of winter weather by virtue of the colors or shades of the 13 worm segments, each representing a week of winter. This year’s victorious worm was owned by Eric Wood of Hickory. Local celebrity and longtime woolly worm adjudicator Tommy Burleson shared what the winning worm prognosticates for the coming season. Section / Week 1 — Black, below average temperatures Section / Week 2 — Fleck, below average temps, light snow Section / Week 3 — Black, below average temps Section / Week 4 — Black, below average temps Section / Week 5 — Light brown, “autumn color,” above average temps Section / Week 6 — Light brown, “autumn color,” above average temps Section / Week 7 — Dark brown, average temps Section / Week 8 — Darn brown, average temps Section / Week 9 — Dark brown, average temps Section / Week 10 — Light brown, above average temps Section / Week 11 — Light brown, above average temps Section / Week 12 — Light brown, above average temps Section / Week 13 — Fleck, below average temps, light snow came to the festival thanks to a suggestion from a family member. “I didn’t even think about it, what I would spend the money on when I bought a $2 worm. That’s like a 500% return on investment!” Wood said after the win and claiming the $1,000 in cold hard cash. The festival boasted more than 150 Art and Craft Vendors, along with numerous food vendors, live entertainment, games and more. According to
Winkelman, sales went well with many of the vendors on site, as well as with advance E-ticket sales, of which almost 1,200 tickets were sold prior to the festival, more than double the total sold in the festival’s first year of using the online ticketing service option in 2019. “All of the vendors had an incredible sales event,” Winkelman said. “We had an amazing weekend. The SEE FESTIVAL ON PAGE 55
WINTER TIMES 2021
