It’s alive: Fouke Monster Festival Saturday
Event takes place in Texarkana
TEXARKANA, Ark. — Fouke may not be home for the Fouke Monster Festival this year, but a new venue will host the monster party Saturday.
Held at the Arkansas Convention Center from 9 a.m. to around 6:30 p.m., this year’s Fouke Monster Festival includes speakers ready to share their expertise about that infamous creature said to roam the Boggy Creek environs and other Bigfoot-esque monsters of the wild.
Speakers include Lyle Blackburn (“The Beast of Boggy Creek”), Ken Gerhard (Texas monster hunter) and Jerry Hestand (“Hunting Apes in America”). Special guests include Glenn Carruth, who played Bobby Ford in “The
Legend of Boggy Creek,” and Jay “Smokey” Crabtree, son of Smokey Crabtree.
A screening of the restored and remastered version of “The Legend of Boggy Creek” with a post-movie Q&A is scheduled, and Fouke Mayor Terry Purvis will give a welcome to the event.
Craig Woolheater, founder of the Texas Bigfoot Research Center, said they had to change their plans after intending to hold the festival at the middle school in Fouke. With the COVID pandemic crisis, Fouke wasn’t going to work out for the event, he said.
“We were trying to find another option and we had even entertained perhaps even holding it outside, although in August it would be very hot,” Woolheater said.
In talking to the Holiday Inn that was already their host hotel with the convention center, they were offered conference rooms that can host the Fouke Monster Festival. Woolheater submitted a plan to the Arkansas Department of Health to raise the occupancy rate above the 100-person cap in place so they can release more tickets; it was approved for 66% occupancy.
Woolheater said safety measures in place include a mask requirement, hand sanitizer stations, social distancing and a touchless forehead thermometer to check for fevers.
“Taking all those things into account in these unusual times to be able host an event
that’s going to be fun and interesting for everybody, as well as safe to protect the public, the participants, even people such as myself who are organizing and hosting it,” Woolheater said.
The event’s going forward and they’ll stress safety.
“We have speakers that will be talking about ‘The Legend of Boggy Creek’ and the Fouke Monster, as well as other general Bigfoot topics of interest,” Woolheater said. “The speakers will have tables selling their books and such.”
Speakers will talk about new cases and new reports of sightings, he said, as well as other cryptids. “The Legend of Boggy Creek” was scheduled to be shown again at the Perot Theatre this year, but because of COVID those plans were scrapped, he said.
“We will be showing the movie, the new remastered, restored version that was shown at the Perot last year,” Woolheater said. That screening will follow the presentations.
Outside vendors will be stationed outside the conference room. They’re the vendors who typically attend Bigfoot conferences, selling Bigfoot and Fouke Monster memorabilia. Concessions, such as barbecue plate lunches, will be available.
This annual event will benefit the Fouke School District with a scholarship to a Fouke High School senior to be awarded.
“That’s also the focus of the event, to put on a safe, fun, entertaining event, as well as to benefit the town of Fouke. It’s a small town with big history and the Fouke Monster and ‘The Legend of Boggy Creek,’” Woolheater said. He said last year they donated $3,000 to the Fouke School District.
(Tickets: $32.28 to $41.94 in advance, $35 at the door. More info and tickets: Visit the Fouke Monster Festival event page on Facebook or the event page on Eventbrite. com. The Arkansas Convention Center - Holiday Inn Texarkana is located at 5200 Convention Plaza Drive in Texarkana, Arkansas. )