May 31 2010
The White Squirrel
I was in Transylvania County on Sunday for the free White Squirrel Festival in Brevard, NC featuring local music and including all of the things that you typically find at a festival. Except that this festival also includes sightings of the festival’s namesake, a furry white squirrel found in Brevard. They’re really pretty darn cute, and not at all camera shy!
Apparently, the white squirrel is found in a handful of other places, all of which take their stewardship of the squirrel very seriously, denouncing other white squirrel towns as not-nearly-good-enough to be the preeminent white squirrel town. I’ll save you the breakdown, but if you’re curious (and how could you not be?) RoadsideAmerica.com lays it out pretty well. Most of the towns with white squirrel populations conduct an annual squirrel census, Brevard not withstanding.
Brevard is home to Brevard College and is the starting place of many Western North Carolina artists, musicians and otherwise creative types. It’s a pleasant mountain town, replete with local establishments and (shockingly!) a brick-and-mortar Blockbuster. The festival was started with assistance from Jupiter Coyote’s founding members, Brevard natives Matthew Mayes and John Felty. As such, the band is a local favorite and headlined the event. You can check out some of their “mountain rock” at the Jupiter Coyote website.
No signs of life from my fellow bloggers Cathy and Caitlin on this holiday Monday, but there’s lots of Monday left still, and I’m looking forward to the latest and greatest!
Wow, that’s really neat…I had no idea there was such a thing as a white squirrel. Leo wants to know why it’s white. I don’t really understand his question. I guess…is it like a weird snow squirrel thing? Do white squirrels only live in NC, or is this a thing we just never knew about? Your photogenic squirrel looks cute, much nicer than the enormous black squirrels I remember seeing in DC (only other non-standard squirrels I’ve ever seen). I’m very amused by the idea of well-meaning citizens with clipboards surveying the squirrel population about their lifestyle once every ten years…thanks for the chuckle.
Ha, ok, I just checked out Roadside America and now know more about white squirrels than I ever really needed to. I like that they’re dark-eyed albinos. Way to stop being creepy and go back to being cute, squirrels!