08/29/2026
Yep.
Tomorrow at high noon, at the foot of the McDowell County Courthouse, one of the great spectacles in North Carolina culture will commence.
The Bigfoot Calling Contest.
I have been to festivals all over this state. I have watched people race lawnmowers, eat collards competitively and stand in lines of unreasonable length for fried food.
But there is nothing quite like watching a grown man walk up to a microphone in broad daylight and holler into the mountains for an animal science has yet to formally acknowledge.
And buddy, they commit to it.
There is no irony involved.
Nobody walks up there and gives you a halfhearted Bigfoot.
They reach down somewhere around the bottom of their soul and produce a noise that sounds like something has gone terribly wrong behind a Food Lion.
Then everybody applauds.
This happens at high noon.
In front of the courthouse.
Which gives the whole proceeding a certain governmental legitimacy I appreciate.
We never miss it.
You shouldn't either.
Tomorrow. August 29. High noon. Marion, North Carolina.
The Bigfoot Calling Contest.
One of the great cultural institutions of our time.
Until Bigfoot shows up and says, āThat aināt what we sound like,ā Iām giving everybody full credit.
WNC Bigfoot Festival
