OCTOBER 15, 2009 ISSUE
Young Woolly Worm Hunters Needed!
Avery Chamber Solicits Help in Rounding Up Woolly Worms from Area Youth
The Avery County Chamber of Commerce is hoping that local area youth will collect woolly worms around October 15 and 16 to help bolster the race roster for the 32nd annual Woolly Worm Festival. Children will receive $1 for every worm collected.
You can’t have a Woolly Worm Festival without woolly worms, and that’s why the Avery County Chamber of Commerce looks to the smallest residents of our area every year for help in rounding up the 13-banded, furry creatures that will be sold to waiting race participants during the 32nd annual Woolly Worm Festival, scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, in Banner Elk.
Children can drop off the collected worms at Banner Elk Elementary School, located at 185 Azalea Circle in Banner Elk, this Thursday and Friday, October 15 and 16, between 9:00 and 3:00 p.m. both days.
But what’s a hunt without a reward? For every woolly worm that local children collect, the festival will pay $1. Children are allowed to collect and sell up to 50 worms apiece. That means if children collect 50 (alive and healthy) woolly worms, the festival will pay them $50—not bad pay for a day exploring the outdoors. The purchased woolly worms will then be sold at the festival for $1 apiece, with all proceeds benefiting the festival’s charities.
In addition to 13 bands of fur, woolly worms have three sets of legs. There are two generations of worms each year. The first appear in June and July and the second in September, which are considered the “weather prophets.” Woolly worms can be found eating plants such as grass, clover, dandelion, spinach and cabbage, and as cold weather arrives, the worms can be found curled up under boards, logs and boulders. Although scientists don’t believe the worms have weather forecasting powers, the worms boast 85 percent accuracy at predicting the weather over the last 20 years.
Only 1,000 worms will be purchased prior to the festival, so organizers urge children to bring the worms this Thursday, October 15, and call the school at 828-898-5575 to see if worms are still needed on Friday.
So, why are we collecting woolly worms? The main event at the annual Woolly Worm Festival is the racing of the worms. Attendees either bring their own worms or purchase worms from the chamber and then race the worms up a string in separate heats. Every year, the winning woolly worm receives the honor of predicting the upcoming winter’s weather. Mountain folklore suggests that the 13 brown and black segments on the woolly worm’s back correspond to the 13 weeks of winter—the darker black a segment is, the colder and snowier the corresponding week will be; the lighter brown a segment is, the milder that week of winter will be. Last year, more than 1,000 worms vied for the honor, and 20,000 people attended the festival as spectators and supporters.
For more information, click to www.woollyworm.com or call the chamber at 828-898-5605.
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