By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
Tabatha Steagall put on the first Carter County Bigfoot Festival last year in September, and is quickly building a bigger and better event for 2026. As part of the activities leading up to this year’s event, Steagall has partnered with local wrestlers to put on a wrestling exhibition in Olive Hill on September 4.
“We have the Aftermath Pro Wrestling people to have Friday Night Fights,” Steagall said. “It’s going to be at the Olive Hill Arts and Heritage Center, and they will be selling tickets for the event.”
Aftermath Pro Wrestling is a local wrestling promotion and training facility located in nearby Coal Grove, Ohio.
Steagall said it should be a great night of entertainment, and hinted that everyone’s favorite cryptid might be showing up for his own time in the ring. Steagall said the event will be exciting and energetic just like wrestling fans have come to expect of their favorite sport, with their own unique blend of heroes and villains. The event will be family friendly though, she said, and people shouldn’t hesitate to bring their kids out to enjoy a good evening of entertainment.
“One of the reasons we are doing this is that people in this area really enjoy wrestling,” she said. “And of course we want to hype up the Bigfoot Festival, too.”
Depending upon the response to events leading up to the main festival event, Steagall said next year she might schedule a car show one weekend leading up to the festival, and other events on other weekends as well.
“I think it will be pretty good because people seem to be really excited about it,” Steagall said of the wrestling event. “And people seem to be really excited about the Bigfoot Festival itself, too.”
Steagall said that her mother helped out, as always, selling Bigfoot Festival t-shirts and handling out flyers for the wrestling event this year at the Route 60 Yard Sale. She said her mother not only made some t-shirt sales, but had two new people share Bigfoot sightings as well. The reported sightings happened on Rattlesnake Ridge and near the Mushroom Mines, she said.
The Olive Hill Bigfoot Festival will be happening the weekend following the Friday Night Fights wrestling event. It is scheduled for September 12 at the historic Depot on Railroad Street. Admission is free and the festival begins at 10 am, and ends at 8 pm. There will be meet and greets with celebrities like Turtle Man and Swamp Man, not to mention themed foods like the Bigfoot Burger.
Festival goers can look forward to enjoying local bigfoot lore with guest speakers and hearing eyewitness reports. There will also be a costume contest and a Bigfoot Calling Contest, food trucks, and live music. Vendors will be set up with cryptid themed merchandise all through the festival, and the family friendly event is sure to have something to appeal to everyone who attends.
“We just want to have a good time and talk about Bigfoot,” Steagall said. “And we want everyone in the area to come see us.”
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
