Whirligigs in Wilson

        Last year a friend of mine told me that every November in Wilson, North Carolina there was a Whirligig Festival.  When I first heard this all I could imagine was those cheap wooden things that I had seen hanging on the porches of old ladies when I was growing up...

 

Well apparently there is a whooooooole lot more to it than that!

 

 

I did some research and found out that there is an artist named Vollis Simpson and he has been creating works of art out of his small workshop ever since he retired at the age of 65.  He's 94 years old now and has created some of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I got to take a few pictures of them today.

 

 

As the wind blows these huge metal creations creak, whir, spin, and gyrate.

 I couldn't help but stand there in awe of them.. 



 

 And as the sun was shining down on them, they shimmered and created

amazing shadows on the ground.

 

 

 

The whirligigs are scattered all through the Town of Wilson so I just randomly drove around town finding them in parks, schools, and random street corners. I'm positive I missed some but that just give me an excuse to keep going back over and over.

 

 

Once I left Wilson I decided to drive a few miles away to the tiny town of Lucama where Mr. Simpson creates his art. I took a few back roads and then my GPS told me to turn down a small dirt road. I followed it for about a mile until I saw a humongous metal structure hanging among the trees next to a pond. It was as big as a truck and I almost ran into a ditch pulling over to take pictures. It turns out that this is where his biggest creations are displayed. They are starting to rust and decay and aren't quite as well taken care of as the ones in town. But these were just as amazing because of the attention to detail and sheer size of them. As I was standing there looking at them a HUGE gust of wind blew through and they all came to life as if it was meant to be. It was definitely worth the trip down the old dirt road.
 

 

Here is a shot of Mr. Simpsons field.



 

I could have stood there watching them blow in the wind all day!

 

 



I have always looked at things with childlike wonder and seeing these whirligigs today made me feel like a kid on Christmas. Seeing what one man could make out of scrap metal and what other people might consider junk makes me very thankful to be living in his world.