Featuring fine artists and master craftsmen from the southeast and beyond. No admission charge. October 20-21 Festival held in the Banner Elk Elementary School grounds on the third Saturday of October. Be sure to catch or buy a woolly worm to participate in the race. The winning worm has his stripes read to predict the severity of the coming winter.
Dark stripes mean cold weather while light ones mean mild weather.
The last link of the Parkway to be finished, the Viaduct was completed in 1987. The most complicated concrete bridge ever built, the Viaduct snakes around Linn Cover in an s-shaped curve. Visitors can get out at the Linn Cove visitor's center and hike down on a handicapped-accessible trail to a beautiful view of the Viaduct. At 5,964 feet Grandfather Mountain is the highest peak in the Blue Ridge with some of the oldest rock formations in the world. Just take a look at the view from Hwy.