Once again the mysterious lights will be glowing and gliding across the dusky slopes of Brown Mountain in Western North Carolina. And once again scientists, paranormal researchers, and the just plain curious will converge on upper Burke County to view these tantalizing and legendary lights. But this year things have changed. This year the lights attain celebrity status as the subjects of a three-day festival to be held in their honor. On the weekend of June 9, 10, and 11 the historic village of Linville Falls in the Blue Ridge mountains will host a festival whose main event will be evening tours to a nearby lookout point from which the lights have been observed for generations.

Activities planned for this first year festival include mountain music and storytelling, lectures on the legends of the lights and the results of the latest scientific investigations, crafts demonstrations, book, video, and DVD sales, and, of course the hospitality that has made Linville Falls a byword in Blue Ridge tourism. A Friday evening bonfire in the village will draw many who have seen the lights to an "open mike" session to share their experiences. On the evening of Saturday, June 10, visitors will ride shuttle vans four miles along Linville Mountain to Wisemans View, perhaps the most popular vantage point for sightings of the lights. The following Sunday will feature a church service (interdenominational) at Wisemans View. The festival also honors the local Wiseman family. It was young Lafayette (or Uncle Fate) Wiseman who often viewed the lights from this ledge on the western side of the Linville Gorge and who passed on to his great-nephew Scotty Wiseman the tale recounted in the latter's1960's hit song, "Brown Mountain Light."

The Brown Mountain Lights are perhaps North Carolina's most famous mystery, continuing to this day to defy scientific explanation. Seen most often on clear summer evenings after rainfall, they have appeared at times when no man-made light source could have been active in the area. Glowing balls of light in red, orange, green, and blue, the lights move across Brown Mountain, a long flat ridge about 2,600 feet in elevation, in unpredictable patterns. They have been the subject of U.S. Geological Survey studies and have added local color to a murder mystery, W. Anderson's 1940 novel, Kill One, Kill Two. Now, finally, the Brown Mountain Lights are receiving their deserved acclaim as the "superstars" of this portion of the Blue Ridge.

The hub of the festival is the exhibition building located across from the Linville Falls Lodge on NC highway 183, just above the intersection with US 221. To reach the festival from Asheville, take I-40 east to Marion and exit at US 221. From Hickory, exit I-40 at Marion onto 221 and head north. From Boone, travel 32 miles south on 221. Linville Falls is located at milepost 317.5 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Exiting the Parkway, turn left on US 221. The village is a half-mile south.

For information on food and lodging, schedule of events, and links to further information on the festival, visit our Website at: www.linvillefallsvillage.com or e-mail
Chris Blake at blakec@interlink-café.com; Cindy Peters at parkviewlodge@interlink-cafe.com; or Shirley McNeil at sgmcneil1@bellsouth.net.