On a clear November day cars line the streets of tiny Molena, Georgia. The city of just over 400 residents 60 miles southwest of Atlanta is hosting its annual Bigfoot Festival. Inside a packed city hall believers, skeptics, the curious and those just seeking entertainment sit and listen to eyewitness accounts of seeing the beast. Field researchers share stories from their expeditions looking for the big guy. A YouTube personality in town known as “the cryptid huntress” delivers a PowerPoint presentation that is informative and interesting. Inside city hall visitors snap photos of a plaster casting of a huge footprint taken by a sheriff’s deputy one mile away on the banks of Elkins Creek in 1994.
Next door to city hall business at the Molena Meadows Café is brisk. Some diners opt for the special of the day, the Bigfoot Burger, while others sample from the everyday menu. Across the street food trucks and vendors selling various wares are churning the wheels of commerce. The handful of permanent shops in town are open with people streaming in. A group gathers around an atm machine at the town’s only bank to obtain cash for their upcoming purchases. A country music band prepares to take the stage as the feature performance of the day.
Molena is just one of many communities across the country that hosts Bigfoot celebrations. A University of Florida study citing a report by the International Cryptozoology Museum in Maine estimates that cryptid tourism accounts for over $140 million spent in the America economy nationally. Cryptids are animals whose existence have not been proven and there are many. Those such as the Loch Ness monster have been generating tourism revenue for Scotland for decades.
Much like college football fans, the Bigfoot community walks the streets wearing t shirts, hats and backpacks adorned with the likeness of the big guy. It is a great community of people. Like college football fans, they travel and for them such events are like gameday. Such visitations offer a fabulous way to showcase one’s locale and bring in dollars from out of town.
The takeaway lesson for communities is to be creative and find ways to think outside the box when promoting economic development. If they have a tie in be it cultural, historical, industrial or cryptid they should capitalize on the connection. Recently the small city of Rochelle, Georgia in the southern part of the state took this plunge. They held their inaugural Bastille Day BBQ Cookoff in honor of their namesake LaRochelle, France. It was a big hit and now will be an annual event. Perhaps Bigfoot can come be a judge at the next one.
