BANNER ELK, N.C. – This year's beans predicted a pretty cold winter, but now it's time for the woolly worm to make its prediction.

  • Organizers say they are expecting up to 20,000 people to attend
  • The body of a woolly worm has 13 segments
  • Each segment represents the weather for each week

Saturday was woolly worm racing time again. People from all over cam for a chance to race their worm up a string.

Whoever makes it to the top the fastest moves on to the next level. Five-year-old Jr. Style and his worm Edward  came in first place in two races.

“I had to like push it up and then it started moving,” he said.

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But there are many to compete against in order to be the one worm that predicts our winter season and that prediction is all due to the coloring on their bodies

“The woolly worm has 13 body segments and there is 13 weeks of winter,” Jason Dewitt said, also known as “Woolly Worm Dude.”

A segment represents the weather for each week.

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“Black is colder than normal lots of snow. Brown is warmer temperature where farmers can get out and take care of their crops,” he said.

It’s not just worm racing at this festival. You can find carnival food, bouncy houses and shops.

Festival staff estimate nearly 20,000 people will attend this weekend despite those chilly temperatures.

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