This was our second time making it to Bigfoot days in Estes Park. Last year on the drive up we had to turn around because a bad storm was literally sliding down the mountains towards us. Seeing a wall of white heading towards you while driving is your que to turn around. So this year we were excited that the weather was supposed to be good.
Estes Park as a visitor center that has a parking garage that you can park in and then catch the event shuttle. I will say that this event is not ADA friendly in many different ways. Like the free shuttle they have only has huge steps and there is no option if you are in a wheelchair. Even mobility devices like a walker would not work for these shuttles. They look like old trolly cars that have been converted into shuttles. Historically there has been a lack of concern for people with disabilities and trying to adapt the old to meet the needs of the current is not always a fix. My mother had a lot of trouble pulling herself into the shuttle and even getting down was a jump. The shuttle drops you right off at the main part of the festival which takes place in a park.
The visitor center has even caught bigfoot fever had have set up a photo op area.
This was the main stage area where they had everything from live music to bigfoot calls.
They had less happening in the town hall this year. The theater is a hike. The shuttle can get you there, but once again not ADA friendly.
Tons of bigfoot products can be found. They have everything from toys to clothes, to cups.
This was one of the most interesting/funny items I found. I guess bigfoot's boobs would be big enough to have disco balls covering them. This was a modified 3D printed piece.
Many of the special guests have tables set up where they could do meet and greets. They were also selling everything from clothes to their books. One was even selling bigfoot feet casts.
We only made it down to the theater for Cliffs talk.
The theater is a historic building with a lot of issues for visitors. First it is a hike from the main event. For two people that have disabilities and can still walk it took them 30+ minutes to make the walk. First, even though they have updated some of the seats in the theater, the chairs even in the section are small if you are not skinny. I'm plus size, but still within your average size range for American adults, and I had a super hard time fitting in the seats. On top of this they only had bathrooms in the basement and the only way to access them from the lobby is 2 stair cases down. Not ADA friendly at all. As a historian I love old buildings, but if major events are going to use historic buildings for public events they need to do extra work to make sure that they stay ADA friendly. They should have had ADA friendly pot-a-potties outside at the very least. I get that it is cool to use historic buildings, but the event organizers need to do the extra steps to make sure that all event spaces are open to all event attendees. Huge fail.
The one good thing about the theater is that they had snacks and drinks for sale that you could take into the theater to eat while you watched the presentation.
Cliffs talk was really good. He went into how a lot of stuff is faked or exaggerated for TV shows to get views and that bigfoot is just an animal, not all of the crazy stuff that the shows try to get you to believe. He also talked about some of the trials he went through with production companies trying to mess with what he thought the show should be about.
Cliff also talked about his museum, the North American Bigfoot Center.
This year was not as good as the 2023 one was. For fully abled and small body sized adults I would say that this is a good event to attend with lots of interesting things to see/do. For people with disabilities not so much. If you have limited mobility issues, you may be ok, but anything more then that and I would say that you would need to skip this event entirely. Personally I didn't really enjoy the event due to limited presentations in the town hall. We actually decided to leave early since we were too tired to walk all the way back to the theater after heading back to the main event to eat. The food options were also super limited.
I think I will try the event again, but I don't have high expectations that it will get any better since it already seems to be going down hill from the two years I have attended.
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