Musical Line Up Announced for 5th Annual White Squirrel Festival in Brevard North Carolina

Western North Carolina's most popular outdoor music event, the annual White Squirrel Festival, enters its fifth year with a strong line up of top tier talent. The Memorial Day weekend festival features headliners such as Edwin McCain, The Patrick Smith Band, and The Jeff Sipe Trio, as well as numerous local singer/songwriters and bluegrass groups. In all, over 14 bands and performers will play on the covered outdoor stage over the two day festival.

"We see this fifth anniversary as a tremendous opportunity to showcase the area's amazing musical talent and do it all free of charge," stated John Felty, organizer of the musical portion of the event. "We have several local bands in addition to the main acts, and they show a lot of promise." The event will be held on Main Street in downtown Brevard and performed on a full sized covered stage with full lighting and sound.

The White Squirrel Festival is organized by The Heart of Brevard, a non-profit downtown merchant association, with the goal of highlighting the uniqueness of Transylvania County. In addition to having more waterfalls than any other county in the U.S., the county also lays claim to having the now famous White Squirrels.

"They came here in the 1950's as a local resident's pets," states Madrid Zimmerman, Executive Director of Heart of Brevard. "They eventually got loose and populated the entire downtown area." According to a yearly census, the White Squirrels now comprise 33% of the squirrel population in Brevard. "In addition to the great music, we will also be providing guided tours to see the litter critters," Zimmerman continues. "Some people come here thinking the squirrels are just made up, but they are real," she insisted.

The other big attraction in this year's event is the second annual running of the Squirrel Box downhill derby. This gravity racing event allows both kids, adults and businesses to race hand built go carts down "Jailhouse Hill" in downtown Brevard, in hopes of winning a trophy and bragging rights. Categories include "Nuttiest,"Squirreliest,"Fastest Critter," and "Road Kill." The overall winner will receive the coveted "Golden Nut" award for overall best entry. Last year's winner was John Taylor from O.P. Taylor's Toy Store. The kid's division will race on Saturday, with the adults and businesses racing on Sunday.

"Last year's races were simply amazing to watch," said Phillip Davis, one of the event volunteers. "We had some spectacular spins out and wipe outs worthy of ESPN 2 coverage. One of the last races was a photo finish." Davis hopes the event will draw bigger media coverage this year given the popularity of last year's race. Racing details and an application form can be found at the White Squirrel Festival contests (http://whitesquirrelfestival.com/contest.php) page.

The Brevard Rotary has also joined in this year, with the first ever White Squirrel 5K and 10K run. More information can be found at White Squirrel 5K/10K Race (http://www.brevardrotary.org/whitesquirrelrace2008.cfm).

A complete list of the musical line up can be found at White Squirrel Festival music (http://whitesquirrelfestival.com/music.php) page. The current lineup includes the following groups.

Saturday May 24th, 2008

Barnacle 2 p.m.

Bobby Powell & Tim Jones featuring Roy Chapman 3 p.m.

Julie Lee 4 p.m.

Ethos 5 p.m.

Shannon Whitworth 6 p.m.

The Jeff Sipe Trio with special guest Jeff Coffin 7 p.m.

Patrick Smith Band 9 p.m.

Sunday May 25th, 2008

Brio 2 p.m.

Moon Shine Babies 3 p.m.

Odd Meters 4 p.m.