OBC PART ONE

The Ohio Bigfoot Conference is the best weekend of the year for me! This year it was held on May 13th - 15th at Salt Fork State Park in Ohio. If you ever get the opportunity to attend this conference DO NOT pass it up!  You will make memories and friends for a lifetime. 

When we arrived at Salt Fork Lodge for the advanced hike Friday morning I was greeted by Jeff Thomas who always goes out of his way to make me feel welcome!  My dad and I went on the advanced hike led by BFRO's Mark Maisel.  There were lots of people!  The hike was beautiful and I learned a lot.  Ron Boles who is a BFRO member did some calls for us - I never realized there were so many different types of calls!  Certainly something I am going to study up on!

The Advanced Hike
Ohio Bigoot Conference
May 13, 2016

On Friday night, we attended the VIP dinner at Theo's restaurant in Cambridge.  We ended up sitting with a great group of people: Thomas Finley, Andy Finkle, Crystal Panek and her daughter (New Hampshire BFRO) and three other people (a couple and his father) from Washington, D.C. who had never been to any bigfoot event before. 

Guy Edwards signing an autograph for me!

Thanks Mr. Kirk!

At the VIP dinner I got to see John Kirk and he signed my copy of "In the Domain of the Lake Monster."   Mr. Kirk is extremely friendly and encouraging and always takes time out to talk with me.   His advice means a lot!  I also got to see Mark Maisel again and get his autograph, something I failed to do last year and regretted it.

Cliff Barakman taking time for a picture!

After dinner, we went back to the lodge to pick up our VIP packets and go to the meet and greet - time for more signatures and pictures!  First I got to meet Guy Edwards, who writes the blog "Bigfoot Lunch Club."  First I thanked him for posting my newspaper article from my hometown paper on his blog last year.  Then I got his autograph and took a picture with him.  Next, I approached Cliff Barakman!  I also got his autograph and got to take a picture with him.  I made sure to thank him for replying to my e-mail from last year - knowing how busy he is, I wasn't sure he would be able to reply but he did! I also caught up with Dr. Russell Jones and had him sign my copy of  "Tracking the Stone Man."  Just before we left I met Tyler Houck.  Tyler is the author of the blog "Tyler's Cryptozoo" and he has also written a book "Cryptid U.S." - which I just received in the mail (thanks Tyler!) 

Tyler and I

Tyler interviewed me for his blog in January and he also put the article from the Elmira Star-Gazette on his blog last year!  It was great to talk to him and get advice about my ideas for this blog.  Being that he is just a little older than me I really look up to him - he has accomplished so much!

Maz Adams

Lyle Blackburn!

The next day we arrived at the lodge at 10AM sharp so that I could see the best the vendors had to offer!  There are so many talented people at the conference!  I couldn't wait to see Maz Adams - he created my favorite hat - it has a bigfoot face on it - I actually have it on in some of these pictures (I had bough it in Whitehall for the Beast of Whitehall showing).  He was kind enough to draw me a picture and I bought a cool picture frame from him!  I then visited the Creatureplica booth and got my 2016 Ohio Bigfoot Conference limited edition "Silverback" action figure.  I got to see the guys from Squatchachusetts and bought a cool hat!  These guys are great - I met them in Whitehall as well and they remembered me and stopped to talk to me all weekend!  I also bought a wallet - not that I had much to put in it by the end of the day!  I then entered another room and got a great surprise!  Sitting at one of the tables was Lyle Blackburn!  So I got in line and bought "The Beast of Boggy Creek" and Mr. Blackburn signed it for me!  I got to talk to Thomas Finley again and sign his suitcase.  I hit the gift shop next and bought a pair of socks, a sign for my office, and a t-shirt.  The morning was great, but the best part of the conference was to come!  In part two of this blog I will talk about the lectures and what I learned from them! 

Me and Bigfoot!