North American Cryptid Festivals: The 2026–27 Calendar

Small towns across North America have found that a local monster story is worth celebrating. A creature first reported by a frightened driver or a newspaper reporter decades ago can now fill a main street with vendors, costumes and speakers for a weekend. Most of these events are free, family-friendly and cheerfully unserious, and many raise money for schools or museums. Some double as conferences where researchers and enthusiasts compare notes.

This guide lists the major recurring cryptid festivals and conferences in the United States and Canada, grouped by season. For each we give the place and the most recent dates we could confirm in published listings or news coverage, plus the usual timing where an organizer follows a set pattern. When we checked in mid-October 2026, only the Ohio Bigfoot Conference and the Mothman Festival had posted 2027 dates that we could find; for every other event, next year’s date had not been announced. Organizers change dates, so check the official listing before you travel.

Spring

Fouke Monster Festival – Fouke, Arkansas. The town made famous by the 1972 film The Legend of Boggy Creek celebrates its Fouke Monster with an annual festival. KTBS 3 reported on April 25, 2026, that Mayor Terry Purvis opened this year’s gathering by warning that the town’s Boggy Creek sign, believed to be the most stolen sign in Arkansas, had better not disappear again, and that author Lyle Blackburn said reported sightings tend to arrive in “flaps.” The 2025 festival was held April 25–26 at the Fouke Community Center, but in other years it has fallen in June or later, and no 2027 date had been posted when we checked. A separate Boggy Creek Monster Festival in Fouke, promoted by Ronnie Dancer of Dancing Ranch Farm, was scheduled for March 27–29, according to a KETK segment aired this spring.

Ohio Bigfoot Conference – Salt Fork State Park, near Cambridge, Ohio. This long-running Bigfoot gathering is usually held on a Saturday in early May at the Salt Fork Lodge and Conference Center. The organizers’ website now lists Saturday, May 1, 2027, with a town-hall session on May 2; the announced speakers include Cliff Barackman of Finding Bigfoot.

Summer

Grafton Monster Festival – Grafton, West Virginia. Held on June 13 this year, the festival honors a large creature reportedly seen near the Tygart Valley River in 1964; festival creator Danny Strakal told WDTV the witness was Grafton Sentinel journalist Robert Cockrell, who spotted it beside the road on his way home late at night. The city has staged the festival since 2024, and paranormal groups, podcasters and YouTubers set up tents to talk folklore with visitors. Read our Grafton Monster entry.

Sasquatch Days – Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia. The 14th annual event took place June 13–14, 2026, on the shore of Harrison Lake, according to Tourism Harrison. It is co-hosted by the Village and the Sts’ailes nation, whose word sásq’ets gave Sasquatch its name, and features war canoe races, medicine walks and a closing prayer rather than monster hunting.

Big Muddy Monster Festival – Murphysboro, Illinois. Inspired by the 1973 reports of the Murphysboro Mud Monster, the festival was first held on June 24, 2023, almost 50 years after the sightings, The Southern Illinoisan and KFVS12 reported. This year’s edition, on Saturday, June 20, had an open-air cryptid market, free talks at the historic Liberty Theatre, a documentary screening and a “search party” hosted by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, KFVS12 reported.

Lizard Man Stomp – Bishopville, South Carolina. Lee County’s festival for the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp is always held on the last Saturday in June, near the anniversary of Christopher Davis’s June 29, 1988, report. The fifth Stomp, on June 27, 2026, opened with a parade down Main Street and ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., organizer Margaret Copeland told The Sumter Item.

Bigfoot Daze – Willow Creek, California. This Humboldt County town, south of the remote Bluff Creek site where the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film was shot, has thrown its Bigfoot party for more than six decades. NBC Los Angeles reported that the 64th Bigfoot Daze moved to the last Saturday in June – June 27, 2026 – with a “Red, White & Bigfoot” theme marking the nation’s 250th birthday; it has long been a July event, and as recently as the late 2010s it was held on Labor Day weekend.

Champ Day – Port Henry, New York. Lake Champlain’s monster gets a family day at Bridgeview Harbour Marina, with a cardboard boat race as the highlight. ADK Taste listed this year’s event for Saturday, August 1. See our Champ entry.

WNC Bigfoot Festival – Marion, North Carolina. Started in 2018, this one-day street festival in the Blue Ridge foothills features a Bigfoot calling contest, speakers and “evidence” displays. WLOS covered this year’s event on August 29, when an eight-year-old boy took first place in the calling contest.

Fall

Mothman Festival – Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Probably the best-known cryptid festival in the country, it is held on the third weekend of September on Main Street, near the town’s Mothman statue. The 2026 festival ran September 19–20 with speakers, vendors, live music, a Saturday hayride and tours of the old “TNT area,” according to the Huntington Area CVB. The 2025 edition drew a record-breaking crowd, the Dominion Post reported, and the festival’s website already lists September 18–19, 2027. Our Mothman report covers this year’s event.

Flatwoods Monster Convention – Braxton County, West Virginia. The third annual convention, featuring Flatwoods Monster researcher Frank Feschino Jr., took place on September 13, 2025, a day after the anniversary of the 1952 sighting, according to the county’s tourism site. We could not find a 2026 listing.

Fresno Nightcrawler Fest – Fresno, California. The newest event on this list celebrates the Fresno Nightcrawlers, the walking “pairs of pants” from a 2007 security-camera clip. The first edition, a free evening art show and vendor market at the Sour Milk gift shop in the Tower District during ArtHop, was scheduled for October 1, 2026, The Fresno Bee reported in a preview; organizer Shirley Jackson said she hoped to expand it next year, but no 2027 date has been set. Read our report on the first fest.

West Virginia Bigfoot Festival – Summersville, West Virginia. Formerly held in Sutton, WVNS reported, this festival moved to Nicholas County and ran October 9–11, 2026, at Veterans Memorial Park, with speakers, a Bigfoot calling contest and food and craft vendors, according to West Virginia Tourism.

Goatman Festival – Louisville, Kentucky. The 10th annual festival for the Pope Lick Monster, or Goatman, runs October 15–18, 2026, at Pope Lick Park near the famous railroad trestle, with talks, film screenings, live music, more than 50 vendors and a ticketed haunted trail, WDRB reported. See our Kentucky festivals report.

Texas Bigfoot Conference – Jefferson, Texas. Run by the Texas Bigfoot Research Center, this East Texas conference is usually held in mid-October; it took place on October 19 in 2024. The 2025 conference, billed as its 25th anniversary, was held on October 18 after a speakers’ dinner the night before, with Matt Moneymaker and Lyle Blackburn among the speakers, KTAL reported. We could not find 2026 dates on an official listing.

Upper Cumberland Bigfoot Festival – Crossville, Tennessee. Cumberland County lists this year’s festival for October 17–18, 2026, at the Community Complex on Livingston Road.

Rougarou Fest – Houma, Louisiana. Southeast Louisiana’s Cajun werewolf, the rougarou, anchors a free three-day festival that celebrates bayou folklore and supports the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center. This year it runs October 23–25 at 86 Valhi Boulevard, with a Saturday-night parade, a costume contest and a Folklife Village, according to Explore Houma; Explore Louisiana notes that admission is free and all proceeds go to the center. Our swamp-monsters roundup has more.

Beast Fest – Bladenboro, North Carolina. The town that was gripped by the Beast of Bladenboro scare of the 1950s usually throws its festival on the last weekend of October. The most recent edition we could confirm ran October 24–25, 2025; Bladen County Commission Chair Charles Ray Peterson estimated that as many as 10,000 to 15,000 people came, while the organizers’ own conservative figure was about 8,000, the Bladen Journal reported. As of this writing we had not found the 2026 dates.

Jersey Devil Show – Waretown, New Jersey. Albert Music Hall, run by the volunteer Pinelands Cultural & Historical Preservation Society, stages an annual November evening of Pine Barrens music and a dramatic retelling of the Jersey Devil legend. The most recent show we could confirm was on November 1, 2025, after a November 2 show in 2024; we found no 2026 date yet.

Before you go

These festivals celebrate stories, not settled facts. None of the creatures they honor has been confirmed to exist, and several of the original reports have well-known ordinary explanations, from barn owls to bears to hoaxes – our cryptid pages lay out both the claims and the skeptical case. Many events are run by volunteers and change dates or venues from year to year, so treat the dates above as a starting point and confirm with the organizers.