Professor of anthropology at Idaho State University Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum holds up a cast of a sasquatch print in this undated photo. He is speaking at the Nicola Valley Bigfoot Conference.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/ Sheldon Quewezance
July 14, 2024 - 7:00 PM
When Sheldon Quewezance held a conference about the bigfoot legend in Merritt just over a year ago, he wasn’t prepared for the hundreds of people interested in attending.
The second annual Nicola Valley Bigfoot Conference is running for two days instead of one this summer with more speakers presenting and more tickets available.
“Tickets sold out at the door last year and I had to turn people away,” Quewezance said. “I’m expecting 300 people to attend per day but I have the capacity to accommodate 500 if necessary.”
People are coming from around the province to take part in the event, with some speakers coming from the United States to make presentations on a variety of topics surrounding the legend.
“We’re covering a wide range of things, with each presenter sharing faces on what they’ve experienced and learned over the years. A broad variety will give people more talking points.”
Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, a professor of anthropology at the Idaho State University and author, is one speaker who is coming from the states.
“I’m shocked he agreed to come up,” Quewezance said. “He is well known in the sasquatch community, while I’m still small in the bigfoot world.”
Quewezance said it’s the only conference of its kind in the BC Interior.
“BC and sasquatch go hand in hand but there are not many conferences in the province. We’re bringing people together to talk about a subject everyone loves.”
Sasquatch is a mythical large, hairy creature that some people believe exists in the northwestern United States and western Canada, and its name derives from the Salish word se’sxac, which means “wild men,” according to Britannica.
Most scientists do not recognize the creature’s existence and its thought to be either a hoax or mistaken for other animals.
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Sasquatch is a popular character in entertainment including horror films, comedies, books and commercial ads.
Quewezance has been fascinated with the idea of looking for bigfoot since he was a kid and joined the sasquatch community in 2017.
He searched for sasquatch with a group and started the Nicola Valley Bigfoot Podcast when the pandemic limited group walks in the woods.
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The conference runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10 and Sunday, Aug. 11 at Nicola Valley Institute of Technology in Merritt.
There will a lot of sasquatch merchandise including shirts, woodworks and knives, and a concession will be on site.
Quewezance is more prepared this year with more tickets available at the door, but he does encourage people to purchase tickets ahead of time.
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