Bigfoot Daze

At ten in the morning on Saturday, June 27, 2026, the 64th Bigfoot Daze parade stepped off along Trinity Highway 299 and Main Street in Willow Creek. The theme was “Red, White & Bigfoot.” The organizers, the Willow Creek Chamber of Commerce, tied it to 250 years of American independence: “From the foods we share to the stories we carry, this is a celebration of connection, diversity, and the beauty of coming together.” The chamber invited almost any kind of entry: floats, classic cars, heavy equipment, livestock, dance teams, decorated bikes, walking groups. It gave prizes for Best Float, for Best Animal Entry, and for Best Use of Bigfoot. The Cal Poly Humboldt Mobile Alumni Center was in the line. The chamber advised spectators to arrive early and find a shady spot along the route.

The parade was led by its grand marshals, Tangie and Tony Markle. They settled in Willow Creek in 2005 and have spent nearly two decades volunteering at Bigfoot Daze, the Taste of Willow Creek, and the town’s holiday events. After the parade came an ice cream social at the Willow Creek-China Flat Museum, where the chamber also sends visitors to see the Bigfoot displays.

An afternoon at Veterans Park

The rest of the day, until five o’clock, took place at Veterans Park on Kimtu Road, with free admission. The park reopened for the festival after renovations that added a bike park and finished the skatepark. A new pump track had its grand opening that day. The festival map set out a stage, a kids and water zone, outdoor games, and rows of booths and food trucks around the skate park. The chamber counted more than 70 vendors, including local businesses, artisans, nonprofits, and food trucks. The Lost Coast Outpost listing put the number at over 100.

The stage ran on a schedule. The Eureka Music School played at 10:30, A Banjo Makes 3 at noon, and Stellar Daze at two, and Wyldfyre closed the day at four. The chamber told listeners to bring a chair or blanket. Between sets came the contests. The Bigfoot Calling Contest began at one, and the Watermelon Eating Contest and the Bigfoot Costume Contest followed at three. Elsewhere in the park were a softball game and a horseshoe tournament. The Kid Zone held Circus Nature activities, face painting, an Arts and Folklore Tent, and a sprinkler zone. The Forks Lounge ran Bloody Mary specials.

Cardboard feet

The festival depends on volunteers. Through the spring of 2026 they met at Humboldt Land Company and at Veterans Park to plan. One April agenda listed making large cardboard Bigfoot feet for the Kids Zone and painting plywood Bigfoot photo props. By June 1 the festival reported that volunteers had made “a bunch of Bigfoot feet for the kids zone crafts and the Bigfoot relay race.” Young artists entered the Bigfoot Daze Art Contest, and their work went on display at Humboldt Land & Co. On the Friday before the festival, volunteers held a potluck and set up the park. A volunteer who works a two-hour shift receives a commemorative T-shirt and parking near the event. That perk counts at Veterans Park, where the chamber calls parking “very limited.”

Downtown, the park, and the calendar

The return to Veterans Park reversed the year before. For the 63rd festival in 2025, Bigfoot Daze took over Main Street downtown under the theme “Mystical Legends of the Forest.” It included a car show where, by the Visit Redwoods listing, owners could “just roll in and show off your ride.” Chamber president Shannon Hughes described the change to Redwood News: “It’s been in many forms over the years, but we’re definitely excited to be having it downtown this year. We’re doing a block party style. In the past, I think a lot of it was held downtown. But Veterans Park has been the main venue where it’s been held for quite a while now.” In May 2026 the chamber announced the move back to its “home stomping grounds.” It said the schedule of the park construction gave “the perfect window” and thanked the Willow Creek Community Services District.

The date has moved as well. NBC Los Angeles reported in June 2026 that “July has long been the month” for the festival. The Visit Redwoods listing gives the festival as recurring on the second Saturday of July. The chamber’s own visitor page says it is held on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. The 2026 festival fell on the last Saturday in June, and the chamber has set the 65th for Saturday, June 26, 2027.

Prints at Bluff Creek

Willow Creek holds a trademark on the phrase “Bigfoot Capital of the World.” Hughes spoke about the claim in 2025: “there’s a long history of Bigfoot sightings in this area. You know, we’re talking before the blast, before the Patterson Gilman film.” She went on: “It was like ten years before Jerry’s crew found the first set of prints, and that was in the Bluff Creek area. So, you know, even before the famous film, we were already having sightings, and they’re continuing.” Redwood News wrote that the land around Willow Creek marks Bigfoot’s first sighting. The chamber’s own version is that Bigfoot “is a mystery to us all but he/she/it is often spotted at the annual Bigfoot Daze.”

In 2017 the parade theme was “The Legend of Bigfoot: 50 Years in the Making,” and the grand marshal was Dick Roberts. More than thirty donors gave items to a Bigfoot Daze Auction, among them Bigfoot Steakhouse, the Pizza Factory, The Forks, Almquist Lumber, and the Willow Creek VFW. Further back, the festival crowned a queen. In April 2026 the Bigfoot Daze Facebook page asked who remembered “the coronation of Bigfoot’s Queen,” and asked them to send their stories.