Bigfoot Rendezvous
Pocatello, Idaho
Sunday, June 18, 2006

Some Casual Observations

The small town of Pocatello, Idaho, set amongst lush green hills was the setting for the Bigfoot Rendezvous that took place the weekend of July 16—18. The get together was booted up in an old parking lot next to the railroad tracks in “old town” Pocatello. Bigfoot aficionados shot the breeze amongst the explosive booms of freight cars connecting for their next journey. “Old town” Pocatello is how it is advertised, but in reality it is more a hollow shell of what was once the vibrant downtown area. So much for spin doctoring. Most buildings were shuttered and the sidewalks held a smattering of street people. Many of the dispossessed seemed to exhibit various and sundry limps or shuffles, while others manifested odd mannerisms. Some carried paper sacks containing the traditional “short dog,” the drink of choice for those that call the streets and the alleyways home. The reality is that Pocatello has moved southwest and “old town” felt more like a “ghost town.”

Friday, the beginning of the festival, was a mixer with vendors and musicians. Bigfoot authors were selling their books and bona fide Native Americans were selling jewelry and paintings. One hot dog cart was there also serving soft drinks. Bigfoot made an appearance in the afternoon to shake hands and offer photo opportunities for parents and their kids. It was good PR for the big guy to show up since he has been seldom seen of late. The weather was pleasantly warm but without any shade in the asphalt parking lot, it sent many looking for relief in the vendors’ overhangs. There was a brief press conference for the local television station and a few questions were answered. Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Rick Noll and author Chris Murphy were at the conference along with the rest of the highlighted speakers. However, Loren Coleman was a no show due to the flu although some questioned that story.

Saturday was the presenter’s part of the conference. The symposium was held on the campus of Idaho State University. I was expecting the campus to have a mountainous feel to it but Pocatello is more of a hilly area. To be honest, I surveyed the surrounding area from the hotel parking lot and it reminded me of San Jose, California in the wintertime. The building used for the symposium was the auditorium in the student union building. It was very open with plenty of room for audience and vendors. There was one small problem though, the air conditioning system was set for summertime and it was only in the low 80’s outside. The result was bone-chilling temperatures inside that sent people running to the sunlit hallways to thaw out between breaks. I would reach down to turn off my mini recorder when the speakers were done and the steel casing felt as if I had just taken it out of the refrigerator. At lunch time, I was impelled to rush back to my room to put on sweat pants under my pants and added a sweatshirt to my long sleeved tee-shirt and short sleeved SRI tee-shirt that I was wearing at the time.

Idaho time is an hour different from California time and to be honest I never made the change. I always was feeling hungry or tired. Saturday we broke at twelve for a two-hour lunch break. My son wanted to join “the boys” for lunch at the local Arctic Circle. We got directions and headed down to Main Street, which of course was in the old downtown area. The old town part of Pocatello is set up like a maze with one-way streets, dead end streets and strategically placed construction to put you in a constant loop. Jake and I stopped and called fellow bigfoot nut John for directions. We found out we needed to find Yellowstone Street. We were already one hour into our lunch break and I was tired, hungry and getting crankier by the moment. To make an already long story short, we eventually found the street but never the Arctic Circle burger stand. We hit a Mickey D’s for take out and got to our room at about two. From what I heard, apparently everyone had a good time at lunch sans me.

The afternoon program kicked off with Rick Noll and later Dr. Jeff Meldrum spoke. There were three speakers scheduled in the evening. The night finished with Owen Caddy who has done some interesting work with the Patterson-Gimlin film. Saturday ended up being a marathon day for all conventioneers. The first speaker started at 9:00 a.m. and the last ended at 9:00 p.m. Some brief fireworks erupted Saturday after “Skeptical” Ben’s presentation. “Passionate” Chris took issue with Ben’s statement that eyewitness accounts were unreliable and therefore are not valid evidence for the creature’s existence. There was a spirited exchange between the two, as the audience seemed to wake up from the big chill. Both men were like two well prepared fighters when the bell rings. In the end, it was a split decision and both retired to their respective corners when discussion time was up. After the showdown was over a soothing calm once again fell over the crowd.

There was a short dinner brake from about 5-6 pm. With the lack of convenient local dining, most skipped an early dinner and hob-knobbed around the building taking pictures with luminaries and cementing relationships. I found out most were eating after the evening program concluded. Being one who always feels out of the loop, I was lucky enough to get an invite to a Mexican restaurant where many of the speakers and big shots were hanging out. By the time everyone was served their dinner and drinks, it was pushing 11 p.m. I talked to a few people and tried to listen to the conversations on the other side of the table. Not being part of the long time core group one is relegated to being a listener until one earns their proper respect and stripes I have surmised. Jake however, was thrilled to hang with the legends and was in constant motion.

When dinner was over we all said goodbyes and left for our rooms. Of course, what would a bigfoot convention be without at least one or two good stories? Sunday morning had a few conventioneers coming in blurry eyed from too much drink and not enough sleep. Word has it that near closing time at the local bar, a few of the hard core got the inkling to go out in the local wilds and do some call blasting. The results of their wild ride into the night were a damaged rental car, screaming angry neighbors, some nasty headaches with hangovers and no tangible results from their fieldwork.

On Sunday, things wound up with the “story tellers” part of the rendezvous. While I am a sucker for a good bigfoot story, I must admit a few speakers and their stories were a bit boring and embarrassing. Lets face it; a good story is all in the delivery. As much as I have a healthy distrust towards some parts of the federal government, I am not much for tales of dead bigfoot bodies being snatched away by guys in dark suits and sunglasses. But to each their own I guess.

There was a small exhibit of bigfoot artifacts and memorabilia at the university museum around the corner. We all looked around and mingled some at the bigfoot exhibit during the lunch break. While the temporary museum was not overly impressive, they did have a nice supply of casts, Rene Dahinden’s jacket and the alleged stick that “Patty” stepped on in the Patterson-Gimlin video.

Of course, the late night call blasting session along with the damaged rental car isn’t the only future legend to emerge from this get together. It had also been whispered that an unwanted member of the bigfoot community was allowed entry to the event only after this person gained a court order demanding he be guaranteed admission. However, I have it from a reliable party the damaged rental car story is true along with the fact that a wildman was behind the wheel. I do not know if the poor guy who rented the car will pay damages or not yet. I guess I will have to PM him and find out. Oh, and the story about the court order granting admission to the unwanted guest being true? I am not sure yet, I have not broken through to the inner circle. For that matter, I may never be granted entry. However, I’ll tell you what, I’ll see you at the next big hoopla!