The North Carolina Whirligig Festival is an all-inclusive, two day arts festival that showcases the arts of the region, including the NC Folk art – Whirligigs – created by local artist, Vollis Simpson. The Whirligigs are 20-50 feet in height and they incorporate highway and road signs, HVAC fans, bicycles, ceiling fans, various woods, steel rods, milkshake mixers and many more such materials form the support and moving parts. Simpson also cut decrepit road signs into one-inch and larger squares so that the Whirligigs would be reflective at night.

The festival is a community celebration in Historic Downtown Wilson of people and art in motion, annually, on the first full weekend in November. Specializing in recognizing our Wilson heritage and community by showcasing active artists, who feature works designed with re-purposed, recycled and reused materials, as the namesake artist did with his whimsical windmills.