Bigfoot festivals have become one of the fastest‑growing types of community events in the United States. Twenty or thirty years ago, you’d only find a handful of small gatherings, usually local meet‑ups, a speaker or two, maybe a booth selling cast footprints. Today, there are dozens of Bigfoot festivals across the country, many drawing thousands of visitors.

The growth didn’t happen overnight. It started slowly in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when interest in cryptids began rising again thanks to documentaries, books, and early internet forums. Small towns with long histories of sightings began hosting events to celebrate their local stories. These early festivals were modest, but they laid the foundation for what would come next.