Named One Of The Top Ten Fall Festivals in North America by the Society of American Travel Writers!

The Wooly Worm Festival is October 17th, 2009! Back in the late 1970s, the editor of the now-defunct Mountain Living Magazine, Jim Morton, was preparing to include a Woolly Worm Forecast in the winter issue of the magazine.

He photographed the first Woolly Worm he saw to use in formulating the prediction and illustrating his story, but the next day he saw a second worm that looked completely different from the first. “That’s when it struck me that we needed some formal procedure to use to decide which was going to be the official worm for making the winter forecast,” said Morton.

So since 1978, the residents of the village nestled between the Carolina’s two largest ski resorts have celebrated the coming of the snow season with a Woolly Worm Festival. They set aside the third weekend in October to determine which one worm will have the honor of predicting the severity of the coming winter; and they make that worm earn the honor by winning heat after heat of hard-fought races – up a three-foot length of string.

For more information on the festival CLICK HERE!

For lodging and other travel information, contact North Carolina High Country Host at 800-438-7500 or visit: www.mountainsofnc.com.

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