White Squirrel Wars
Olney, IL; Marionville, MO; Kenton, TN; Brevard, NC; Exeter, ON
Not
one, but five towns use albino squirrels as their claims to fame, and none
is particularly happy about the others. Kenton, Tennessee,
accommodates about 200 of the furry rodents. Residents insist that the squirrels
"have been here the longest" and claim they were left by a "Gypsy caravan"
in 1869. Is Kenton, we asked, where the other towns got their white squirrels?
"Well, they had to come from somewhere."
Olney, Illinois, is the loudest booster of all albino squirrel towns, titling itself Home of the White Squirrels. It scoffs at the other towns' albinos. "Most of theirs have dark eyes," they told us. The town conducts and promotes an annual white squirrel count, when locals scour the landscape inch by inch to determine population or migration trends.
Laws on the Olney books give the squirrels right-of-way on every street; residents are fined if they try leave town with one. Local police patches bear an outline of a bushy-tailed albino. Big Squirrel is watching you.
Olney
has overhyped themselves, according to a Marionville, Missouri,
spokesperson, also publicized as Home of the White Squirrels. "They've
got our backs up," Marionville told us, an opinion they've held ever since
Olney appeared making preemptive superiority claims on the Today Show in 1965.
Marionville believes their squirrels arrived in town "just after the Civil War"
and that they escaped from a traveling circus. "The squirrels in Olney were
kidnapped from Marionville," they explain.
As "Home of the White Squirrel," Brevard, North Carolina, also appreciates their white squirrels, although they have dark eyes and are not albino. There has also been some interbreeding between the white and grays [According to tipster Dan Hay, "causing some to have gray caps and sometimes gray strip down back."].
Brevard College's "White Squirrel Research Institute" has charted the geographic distribution of pale critters in their region. Brevard's white squirrels are legally "protected." The town holds a White Squirrel Festival around Memorial Day Weekend.
The northernmost white squirrel enclave is over the border in Canada. The town of Exeter, Ontario appears bent on total White Squirrel Supremacy, celebrating an annual White Squirrel Festival and cheerily publicizing their pale pals. A 1986 naming contest dubbed the mascot "White Wonder." There's even a song (watch the music video).
But the Exeter squirrels aren't albinos -- their eyes are dark.
These communities revere their mascots, to the point of enacting stiff
fines if humans should intentionally harm or even annoy a white squirrel.
Still, calamities do happen, whether it is a fall from a power line or an
inattentive SUV driver on a cell phone (wait...that's all of them). Road crews
quickly spirit away remains, shielding townsfolk and visitors from unpleasant
views.
Marionville had come up with the best solution, preserving its most intact critters on ice and then shipping them to the Funeral Home with Perky Animal Dioramas, as we discovered during a visit.
Then there are ... Black Squirrel Squabbles.
Address: 584 N. 130, Olney, IL [Show Map]
Directions: In City Park, which is on the east side of Hwy 130/West St. about four blocks north of the intersection of Hwy 250/Main St. They are pictured in a mural at 300 E. Main St., and "White Squirrel Mini Golf" is at 701 N West St.
Hours: Daylight Hours. (Call to verify)
Phone: 618-395-7302
Address: 203 S Mill St, Marionville, MO [Show Map]
Directions: White Squirrel Bed and Breakfast, 203 S Mill St. 417-463-7626.
Address: Kenton, TN [Show Map]
Directions: I-40 exit 80-B at Jackson onto the Hwy 45 bypass; follow it to Highway 45 W, then north to Kenton. Billboard is along the main drag - Poplar St. Squirrels are around town. Feeder located at Taylor and Maple Heights streets.
Hours: Daylight hours. (Call to verify)
Phone: 731-749-5767
Also of interest: Amazing Squirrel Stories from visitors | Grave
of Shorty the Squirrel
Note:We are primarily interested in towns that promote their squirrel populations as symbols of civic pride. If your town has an annual squirrel festival, or you were Miss White Squirrel 2000, by all means let us know. On the other hand, we have received e-mail from hundreds of people who have sighted white, black, reddish-gray or whatever flavor squirrels in their own towns and yards. We are very excited for you, however we don't profess to be experts on squirrel behavior, diet, taming or extermination techniques. Good luck in your search for that information!
