WILSON, N.C. — The North Carolina Whirligig Festival is back. Last year, the event was virtual due to COVID-19. 

The festival honors art by the late Vollis Simpson, who made the structures on his farm until just months before his passing in 2013. He was 94.

George Freeney Jr. is heading up the art competitions for this year's festival and commends the art community in Wilson. 

"We support each other, especially with COVID. It was a challenge because the arts centers had to shut down and when they shut down, there’s no us," Freeney said. "We can paint, and we are painting at home or we are painting in our studios, but we are waiting to get that expression out.”

Freeney said he is excited to celebrate with everyone during the Whirligig Festival this weekend.

“If they can come to this Whirligig Festival and leave from the experience saying, 'Wow! That was the most amazing chalk art that I saw and the whirligigs and the murals!' and they are talking about that and passing that on through their generations, and their generation are coming, we win," Freeney said.

The festival begins at 10 a.m. Saturday and at noon on Sunday. For more information, click here.