Music Line Up All Set for White Squirrel Festival

The music is finally set for the White Squirrel Festival with the likes of Firecracker Jazz Band, Hobex, Patrick Smith Band, Sol Driven Train and The Mad Tea Party. Be sure to check the web site for any last minute changes. The photo here is of The Mad Tea Party, which I've heard good things about.

John Felty is the music organizer for this event and he also does The Mountain Song Festival. So he's good at what he does. (It helps that he's also the lead singer for Jupiter Coyote, so he has connections.) This event will be Saturday and Sunday, (Memorial Day weekend) May 26th and 27th, 2007 in downtown Brevard, NC. Be sure to book your hotel now since it gets crowded fast. There's a list of accomodations at the White Squirrel Festival web site as well.

Also, the first ever Squirrel Box Derby is shaping up nicely. We have several businesses in town who are quite sure they have built the fast go cart to go down jailhouse hill. For complete rules and to download an application go to the Squirrel Box Derby racing page. This race includes prizes for the Nuttiest, the Squirrliest, the Fastest Critter, People's Choice, Road Kill and the granddaddy of them all... The Golend Nut (best overall racer) John Taylor from OP Taylors has the advantage of having raced for ten years in a gravity racing event (The old Chimney Rock Gravity Race) He's supposedly builing two different models just to hedge his bets.

I would like to express my thanks to the good people at French Broad Place for donating the money to make this happen. They did it on the condition that all kids 8 to 17 years of age would be able to race for FREE! That's right... they get a t-shirt and get to race their cart free of charge. How cool is that?

So the event is set to go one month from today. I have already begun building my race machine and the details are being carefully guarded.

That's it for now from the White Squirrel Captial of the World... Brevard, NC.

Squirrel Box Derby update!

The official rules and regs have been posted on the first ever White Squirrel Festival "Squirrel Box Derby" Just click here to go to the page that explains it all.

White Squirrel Derby News

Okay... it's official. The first White Squirrel "Squirrel Box Derby" is going to be held on May 26th and May 27th in downtown Brevard, North Carolina. It's also called gravity racing and it's going to be a blast! There will be age categories from 8-11, 12-17, 18+ and then a business/corporate division.

There's NO entry fee for anyone 8 - 17 years old. For adults and businesses, there's a $100 sponsorship fee. Rules will be posted soon at the White Squirrel Festival web site.

John Taylor, from OP Taylor's Toy Store on the corner of Main Street and Broad, will be conducting a workshop on how to build a downhill gravity race car. It will be on Saturday, February 24th. John won 10 gravity race events using a bath tub when he used to race down Chimney Rock (they don't do it anymore, but John was the King for 10 years straight) So he knows a thing or two about building a good cart.

The prize categories will be for

• The Village People Award (People's Choice)
• The Nuttiest (Weird, wacky & nutty)
• The Squirrelest (in keeping with the White Squirrel theme)
• The Fastest Critter (for the speediest human rodent)
• The Road Kill Award (most deserving to be squashed)
• The GOLDEN NUT (the grandaddy of them all - most overall points)

Registration and vehicle inspection will begin at 9:00am on Saturday, May 26th by the Courthouse downtown. There will also be a "Big Wheel" race for kids ages 5 to 8.

So start building your Squirrely Racing Machines! And for all the building specifications check the White Squirrel Festival web site. I'll try to come back here and link to that page once it's added.

Go Nuts!