International Bigfoot conference coming to Kennewick

Bigfoot believers are coming to Kennewick on Labor Day weekend for the second conference this year in the Tri-Cities billed as an international Sasquatch event.

Those who aren’t up for two and a half days of Sasquatch talk at the conference may attend a free talk at the Mid-Columbia Libraries by one of the conference’s key speakers.

Jeff Meldrum, an anthropology professor at Idaho State University, will speak at 7 p.m. Sept. 1 at the Kennewick main library branch, 1620 S. Union St.

Meldrum says Bigfoot is real after taking a detailed look at the scientific DNA and forensic evidence gathered on Sasquatch.

“Anyone who has pondered the mysteries of human evolution will be fascinated,” the library said in a promotion for Meldrum’s talk.

In the spring, an unrelated Bigfoot conference in Kennewick focused on speakers who said they had seen Sasquatch in the wild.

While the Tri-Cities may not seem like Bigfoot territory, with its lack of trees to hide the creatures, it’s between the Cascade and Blue mountains, both places where Bigfoot sightings have been reported.

The upcoming International Bigfoot Conference will feature more than a dozen speakers, several of whom will be familiar to those who follow TV or radio shows with cryptozoology themes.

It opens the afternoon of Sept. 2 and will continue through the afternoon of Sept. 4 at the Three Rivers Convention Center. Cost is $45 for adults and $25 for children 12 and under. An additional $10 charge covers a footprint casting workshop.

Adam Davies, a popular TV show guest from the United Kingdom on topics such as the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot, will speak the evening of Sept. 3.

Loren Coleman, the director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, is expected to discuss Kennewick Man, the ancient skeleton found a decade ago on the banks of the Columbia River.

Ken Gerhard, cohost of the History Channel show Missing in Alaska, will share his knowledge of “everything strange,” according to the bios for the conference.

Shane Corson and Gunnar Monson, cohosts of the weekly online radio show Monster X, also will talk.

To buy tickets, or for more information, go to internationalbigfootconference.com.

Source: Tri City Herlad