West Virginia Bigfoot Festival kicks off

SUTTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — If you enjoy learning about monsters, the fourth annual West Virginia Bigfoot Festival at Holly Gray Park in Braxton County may be a good place to start, and it’s family-friendly.

Kicking off on Thursday with around 200 vendors and more than a dozen food trucks, the festival has already welcomed people who have traveled across the country for the experience. By the time it first opened at noon, there were already more than 500 visitors.

“We’ve been contacted by people that are coming in from overseas so we’re very excited and it’s really good for our local economy as well. This is a poorer county and the whole community is involved which is really really exciting. You’ll see restaurants saying you know ‘Bigfoot loves our food’ and it’s just been really great to see the community support,” said organizer Laurel Petolicchio.

This is the first year that the festival is held over multiple days, and organizers said this is the biggest festival yet.

“This is one of the areas that has some of the highest sightings in West Virginia. It’s one of the three most rural counties in the state, in the very center. We’re near Sutton Lake and the whole region is the most rural, is one of the least populated in these three counties and so if the big guy’s is out there he’s probably in this region because this is a good spot for him,” said Petolicchio.

Additional details about the festival, including maps and a full schedule of performers for June 28-29 are available below. For the most up-to-date information, check out the WV Bigfoot Museum on social media .

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTRF.