Brevard's White Squirrel Predicts Long Summer
Pisgah Polly, Brevard N.C.'s white squirrel predicted a long summer at the 1st Annual Brevard White Squirrel Festival Memorial Day weekend.
BREVARD, NC (PRWEB) June 4, 2004 -- Pisgah Polly, Brevard, N.C.'s famous white squirrel, predicted a long lazy summer by sniffing and savoring, rather than digging and burying, a pile of nuts. "Her indifference to her own innate drive to gather, store and bury nuts certainly points to a lengthy and enjoyable summer vacation period" said Brevard Mayor Jimmy Harris.
The prognostication was made over Memorial Day weekend, at the height of the 1st Annual Brevard White Squirrel Festival in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. While several local meteorologists were invited to come and match skills against Polly, apparently they were intimidated by the animal's uncanny forecasting capabilities. Calls to local weather stations and Punxsutawney Phil were not returned. It's believed that Polly's forecast is actually based on consultations she had, previous to her prediction, with the other 800 white squirrels in and around downtown Brevard.
| | - certainly don't think she makes this decision in a vacuum" Harris insisted. "We believe there is a consensus with the other white squirrels and Polly is simply the spokesperson. As much as we like her, I believe she relies heavily on Brevard's white squirrel community as a whole before rendering a verdict of this consequence." A crowd estimated at over 5,000 visited during the two day event, many from out of state.
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The event included white squirrel sight seeing walks, squirrel feeder building, a white squirrel photo contest and the unveiling of the new white squirrel sculpture in front of city hall. The weekend closed out with an all day music venue headlined by regional favorite Jupiter Coyote. Already a tour group of squirrel lovers has scheduled a bus for next year's event, according to Margaret Woodard, the Executive Director of Heart of Brevard.
"We seeing a nutty group of die hard white squirrel enthusiasts beginning to emerge as a result of this event." While not a cult group, it is believed that many of these individual will make the pilgrimage to Brevard against all odds, just to experience a white squirrel sighting. "Every group that went out on the white squirrel sightseeing walks spotted white squirrels. One group saw eight of them" Woodard continued. For others, simply touching the new marble white squirrel sculpture, was enough. "I think it's a sort of touchstone for some, a place to connect with the white squirrel in a way that, until now, has never been possible before" Harris commented, wiping a small tear from his own eye. On a lighter note, the event promises to be even "squirrelier" next year, with new white squirrel collectibles, wacky races and nuttier competitions.
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