This June, expect to see people searching for Bigfoot across Forest County. Here's why

The search for Bigfoot continues.

The weekend of June 10-12, thousands of people are expected to be in Marienville in Forest County to search for, and celebrate, this mythical creature.

The small town is the headquarters for the second annual Forest County Bigfoot Festival.

Dave and Zenobia Yeany, came up with the idea for the first festival last year as a way to bring people into the area as well as to learn about Bigfoot.

“Last year was a great success,” Dave Yeany, one of this year’s organizers, said in a telephone interview. “We had people from everywhere.” The event drew in about 10,000 people, some as far away as Colorado and Texas.

“Bigfoot phenomena is a thing in itself. People are attracted to it whether they are Bigfoot researchers, whether they are believers, whether they experienced something that they think they have seen a Bigfoot or people who want to come and just have fun with the idea of Bigfoot.”

This year’s event has more than 60 craft vendors, 11 food vendors and 25 sponsors, which more than doubled last year’s numbers. “There’s a lot of people who want to be involved in this festival. It’s a really positive thing.”

It’s a fun place for people who collect Bigfoot items. The vendors, from as far away as Arizona, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee, are all required to sell at least one Bigfoot-themed product.  “It’s out there,” he said about people interested in the event from all over the country.

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There are two “hunts” planned for this year’s festival, including one through the Allegheny National Forest. Participants will be required to purchase a $10 “hunting license” to find and shoot photographs of the 10 silhouettes of the large creature. The first person to find all the silhouettes will win $100.

A somewhat smaller hunt will be held in the town with silhouettes that are smaller. It will be called the Littlefoot Hunt and is good for youth and those not able to trek through the wooded areas.

For people curious about the legend of Bigfoot, there are several experts lined up to talk between 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday about their efforts to document findings.

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The speakers are:

• Amy Bue, who co-founded Project Zoobook, a collaboration of Bigfoot investigators and scientists.

• David “Taters” Wickman, who participated in numerous expeditions, is an expert of biomechanics for gate patterns of the bipedal origin.

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• Jami and Jenny King, founders of the Bigfoot Field Evidence Evaluation Team.

• Kevin Aleksiejczyk, a civil engineer and member of Project Zoo-book.

• Sean “The Forkchop”  Forker, who is connected with the “The Sasquatch Experience” and has worked on a book on the truth of people experiencing the large animal.

In addition to the speakers, there will be a variety of music groups, including rock bands, cloggers and bluegrass. “I’m trying to hillbilly it up,” he said about the theme and “wanting something for everybody.”

There’s a 5K Race and fun a walk on Sunday.

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Also scheduled is a fun attraction where people try to imitate the sounds of a Bigfoot for a calling contest. Last year about 30 people gave their best vocalizations of what they believe a Sasquatch sounds like.

There’s also a contest for the visitor with the biggest foot. Last year’s winner was a man with feet measuring longer than 13 inches.

Members of the town get in the spirit of the festival, too. He said there’s a local man, Rob Simpson, who wore a Bigfoot outfit and raised several thousand dollars for the local youth baseball association. He’s expected to be in the costume again this year. 

“It really has been a great thing for the community,” Yeany said. 

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“It’s a very friendly crowd. Everyone has a smile on their face,” he said about the positive event for the town, county and sponsoring organization, the Forest County Business Alliance.

For more details, visit forestcountybigfootfestival.com and or the event's Facebook page.

“We’re hoping to do this for years to come,” he said about the future of the festival.

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on your website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on social media @whipkeyoutdoors.