In 2016, the Japanese Whistling Confederation started a successor event, the biennial World Whistlers Convention.
The Franklin County and Louisburg College Folk Festival was founded in 1970 by Louis de Hart to celebrate traditional music, dance, and crafts of the American southeast.
[4][3] Later, the whistling competition was split from the fall folk festival and became an annual spring event.
[10][5] Starting in 1981, distinguished guest whistlers were invited to the NWC where they performed and conducted workshops.
The guest whistlers for 1982 were In Carlin Morton of Fort Myers Beach, Florida; Fred Newman of New York City; Jason Serinus of San Francisco, California who was noted as the "voice" of Woodstock in Peanuts!
[4] In addition to the musical competition, awards were also given for bird calls, animal sources, and the loudest whistle.
[4] The grand champion for both years was Tobe Sherrill, a student from Greensboro, North Carolina.
[8] It became a tradition for the grand champion to perform on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
[12] She was the children's champion again in 1985 and received national publicity, including performing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
[16] One reporter described the IWC: "The sounds that pour forth from the whistlers are astonishing; cascading warbles, bell tones, tremolos and trills, syncopated crescendos, octaves of excitement.
"[21] During the 2001 convention, David Heilbroner and Katie Davis filmed the documentary Pucker Up: The Fine Art of Whistling.
[22][23][24] By 2003, a newspaper reporter noted, "Louisburg has pulled off a neat trick of civic identity.
[27] The Japan Whistlers' Federation hosted the event with the assistance of the Franklin County Arts Council.
[20][27] The Franklin County Arts Council board of directors voted to discontinue its sponsorship of the IWC in the spring of 2010.
The Lillian Williams Award was introduced at the annual National Whistling Convention in 1986 where it was presented to Purves Pullen.
[20] The award honored Lillian Williams a musician, humorist, and whistler, known as "America's Whistling Sweetheart".