Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy

The 2009 Texas Bigfoot Conference was held for the first time in Tyler, Texas, at the Caldwell Auditorium. The move to Tyler from Jefferson certainly appears to have been a success, as event income and attendance were significantly greater than last year’s event. The attendance final figure was 425, with many of the attendees from Tyler and the surrounding area.

The Tyler Convention and Visitors Bureau provided tremendous support and encouragement for the event. The TBRC also experienced great cooperation from the hospitality industry and the Discovery Science Place, Tyler’s award winning science center. During this first year, a very positive foundation has been laid for future symposia.

While the chosen venue was spacious and attractive, some attendees commented that a few sections of the auditorium had sound quality issues, and there appeared to be a bit of inconvenience at times with traffic flow into and out of the vendor area. Overall, however, the overwhelming assessment was that Caldwell Auditorium represented a quantum leap over previous conference locations used in Jefferson.

Over and above all of the positives already mentioned, however, attendees were greatly pleased with the conference itself, along with the related activities. Diligent planning and hard work fell together in a good way and each of the events from Thursday through Sunday came off without a hitch. The speaker lineup was arguably one of the most remarkable assemblies ever presented for a sasquatch symposium. One attendee remarked that arranging for all those outstanding individuals to be together on the same weekend was extraordinary.

The TBRC always strives to create a positive experience for guest speakers, and by all appearances, that goal was attained. The speakers, in turn, produced some excellent presentations. Unfortunately, there are no plans to produce a DVD of the speaker sessions.

Among the speakers, Peter Matthiessen was the most prominent, and the TBRC was honored that he agreed to participate in the conference. Matthiessen is greatly interested in the sasquatch phenomenon, as is well known, and he shared some stories regarding some of his field endeavors in the Pacific Northwest. He also shared details of a conversation from some years back that he had with a prominent pioneering conservationist friend from Southeast Texas who told him of upright hairy “wildmen” seen from time to time in the Big Thicket area. Interestingly enough, during Matthiessen’s banquet presentation he said that he was not divulging everything he could say on the subject, and he announced that he was working on a sasquatch-related book.

All the other speakers were outstanding as well, and several of them could easily serve as headline speakers at any conference. One auspicious byproduct of the conference is that both Peter Matthiessen and Esteban Sarmiento are now serving on the TBRC Board of Advisors, and they have already proved helpful in supporting the organization.

This year’s Texas Bigfoot Conference was a wonderful experience in many ways, and the TBRC looks forward with great anticipation to what the future may hold in Tyler.