Many things happen during the month of October here in the High Country. The weather turns cooler, the leaves set off a myriad of reds, yellows, and gold, and Avery County in Western North Carolina hosts the world acclaimed Woolly Worm Festival. Each year over 20,000 guests descend on downtown Banner Elk, North Carolina, where one of our webcams is, to enjoy crafts, food, live entertainment, and above all, Woolly Worm races. Children of all ages, young and old, will set out to find the winning worm and enter a field of nearly 1,000 to see whose worm will reign supreme, taking home the grand prize of $1,000!
What does it all mean? Well, the winning worm is used to predict the weather for the upcoming winter. Each worm has a distinct pattern of black and brown stripes. Black stripes are indicative of a long, cold winter and brown stripes mean milder weather is on the horizon. If any of you all visited the High Country last year, you’ll agree the worm must have been all black!
Always the third weekend in October, this year the fun starts on Saturday, October 16th and runs through Sunday, October 17th. Admission is only $5 for adults, $2 for kids, and little ones under 5 are free. Additionally, to enter your worm into the races, there will be a $5 worm registration fee. For more information contact Woolly Worm headquarters locally at (828) 898-5605 or toll-free at (800) 972-2183.
For up to the minute coverage of downtown Banner Elk during the Woolly Worm Festival check out the webcam we have right at Highway 184. Even if you can’t make it to Banner Elk for the Woolly Worm festivities, you can stay on top of the action with our webcams. If you are planning a weekend getaway to the Western North Carolina mountains, HighCountryWebcams.com offers information on the area, events, and accommodations. Also, visit our sister website, SkiNC.com for all you need to know about skiing in North Carolina. HighCountryWebcams is your one stop shop for the goings-on in Western North Carolina.
