Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk
This year while traveling through the high country, we had the opportunity to stop by and enjoy the events at the 40th annual Woolly Worm Festival held in Banner Elk, NC. This isn’t a normal festival many of us experience during the fall season for sure.
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40th Annual Woolly Worm Festival
This year was the 40th annual Woolly Worm Festival and I’m so glad that we were able to attend. I never dreamed that watching a woolly worm race would so be fun.
We arrived in Banner Elk for the Woolly Worm festival around 11 AM. I was almost certain we would never find a place to park the bus. Once we hit the “Welcome to Banner Elk” sign, the traffic came to a stand still. While the festival did offer free parking, we knew that was long gone. Ryan never worries about finding a place to park. Like he always reminds me. We’ve never NOT been able to find a parking spot for the bus. There are times we have to get creative, but we still end up finding a place to park. Obviously he was right, or I wouldn’t be writing this.
Our parking spot ranked up there with some of the coolest parking spots ever…or that’s what Ryan and Davis said. Where was it? At an abandoned hospital. What we wouldn’t give to have been able peak inside, and Ryan decided it would be an awesome spot to film the “Walking Dead”. Even I’ll admit that it was a pretty cool building.
Price for a cool parking spot? $5 which wasn’t bad in my opinion. Yes, we had about a 5-minute walk to the festival but the closer you got, the higher the price of parking was. I for one am not going to pay $20 for parking to be closer to an event. Plus, when you walk you get to enjoy everything the town has to offer. Look at this beauty.
Inside the Woolly Worm Festival…Now what?
There’s so much to see and do once you get into the festival. While the Woolly Worms are without a doubt the star of the show, that isn’t all to see and do. There are tons of local vendors set up selling their beautiful hand-crafted items. There’s a huge section of food vendors and even entertainment throughout the day.
While we weren’t able to stay until the last race, we did hear that Aspen was the overall winner for the day. What does this mean? That his owner wins the $1,000 pot, and Aspen the Woolly Worm also gets to predict the winter weather based on his 13 body segments. Each of the woolly worms segments represents one week of winter. The brown segments predict a milder winter, while the black indicate a harsher winter. The final results for Aspens Woolly Worm Weather prediction is:
• Week one through 3 below average temperatures with snow
• Week 4 through 9 average temperatures, meaning 27 degree temperatures,
• Week 10, average temperatures with light snow,
• Week 11 average temperatures,
• Week 12 and 13 below average temperatures with snow.
If you’re in the area of Banner Elk, NC, October 20-21, 2018, be sure to stop by and have fun at the Woolly Worm Festival.
Things to know when visiting the Woolly Worm Festival
How much does it cost to get into the Woolly Worm Festival?
Admission price for the Woolly Worm Festival is $6 for adults, ages 5-12 is $4.00 and under 5 is free.
What if I don’t have a Woolly Worm?
If you don’t have a woolly worm you can purchase one there for around $1 a worm. You can bring your own container to put it in, or you can purchase one there.
What about parking?
Free parking is offered on a first come first serve basis. If that fills up, there are numerous pay to park spots.
To find out more about this awesome event, you can visit their Official Website.
