White Squirrel Park

You know, I often poke a little fun at traveling through small towns across the state of Illinois, but I really do enjoy it. If you keep your eyes open, you just never know what you’ll find. Today was a perfect example.

I was in Olney, Illinois, a small town just southeast of Effingham. Locals had told me about the infamous albino squirrels that can be seen around town. I don’t know how the albino squirrels got there but I do know that if two albino animals breed (including humans) all their offspring will be albino.

In Olney, there’s even a small park called White Squirrel Park – I’m not making this up – and that is where most of the notorious white squirrels can be seen.

I had a business meeting this morning and one of my first business inquiries was, “Is it really true about the white squirrels?”

One guy said he had seen them numerous times but one woman said she’d never seen one. It sounded sort of like an urban legend to me. Like Bigfoot.

They also said that in October, the town has an annual White Squirrel Celebration, complete with a 5K run called the Squirrel Scamper. (I would totally love to run in a Squirrel Scamper)

More White Squirrel information can be found here.

So, after the meeting, I took a drive through White Squirrel Park. I saw lots and lots of regular, garden-variety squirrels. Obviously, I was deep in squirrel habitat.

Then, I saw a fluttering of white. Could it be?

Yes! It was indeed a white squirrel!

I had my camera ready and got a shot of the elusive white squirrel. I felt like I had just photographed the Loch Ness Monster or something. Here it is:

 So, there you go. Just keep an open mind and open eyes and you never know what you’ll find in this world of ours.

I really hope to run in the next Squirrel Scamper.