Bigfoot Society - Squonkapalooza / Community Spotlight

Episode Date: February 11, 2023

Welcome to our first community spotlight episodeIn this episode I talk to Lisa Russell from Cryptid Comforts about the upcoming Squonkapalooza festival.Resource:https://squonkapalooza.com/Do you have an upcoming community event or individual that you would like me to spotlight and talk about? Nominate one by emailing me at [e-mail]_______Join the only Facebook group for Van Meter Visitor fans - “Van Meter Visitor Believers” - See you there!https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanmetervisitorbelievers/?ref=shareFOR MORE INFO ON THE VAN METER VISITOR FESTIVAL:https://www.facebook.com/vanmetervisitorfestival/_______Join us over on Patreon! Get access to extra audio content, exclusive merch like a membership card and stickers, watch me interview guests weekly live on video, a Patron-only Discord and more.https://www.patreon.com/thebigfootsocietyPick up a Bigfoot Society shirt to rep the podcast!https://www.etsy.com/shop/BigfootSocietyTune in for new episodes of Bigfoot Society!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Qq45W6iaTU8FE9kelxT7QFor full links go to:www.bigfootsocietypodcast.com

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It walked out of thicket. It turned around and looked at me. Looked up and in this tree, there was a monkey man. And the monkey man jumped down out of the tree. It started running away. And suddenly they're right in front of the car. He slams on the brakes and manage to stop. pretty skidding because it's like quite, you know, grappling.

And literally for about a second and a half, they just stood there because they don't know where to go. And you tell them, panic, and they're like, through nothing, their face is like twitching. Welcome back to Bigfoot Society, a podcast where we focus on cryptids, the strange and the unexplained of this world. If you've got a story or something weird to share, send an email over to me at Bigfoot Society at gmail.com. and if you'd like to support this show, head on over to patreon.com forward slash the Bigfoot Society. And now on with the show. All right, Bigfoot Society.

I've got the privilege of chatting with the main person in charge of Squamacapalooza. Well, I'm not the main person in charge. That's how much I don't know. Oh, my goodness. Okay. Yeah. You got to teach me what's going on, Lisa. It's a co-effort between me and Joe Fobel of Cryptotiology.

He is actually boots on the ground there in Johnstown. And I'm working from afar since I'm in Colorado right now. So I'm doing more of the social media aspect of it right now while he's actually there doing the hard stuff. Okay. Gotcha, gotcha. And of course, this is Lisa from Crypted Comforts I'm talking to right now on the phone for everyone who's listening. And so I am just curious about this whole squankapalooza thing.

So how far back has this been in the works for? When did you guys start to come up with this? We actually started working on it back in May of last year. So that's when we were both headed to the Hodag Heritage days in Rhinelander, and we were messaging right before that. And I, how he had brought it up to several people that I wanted to do a squank fest. And he's like, I live in Pennsylvania. I'll totally partner with you on that.

And so then we met up in Rhinelander and started actually like figuring out what we wanted it to be and we've been working on it pretty diligently since then. Tell me a little bit about, well, let's, let's start. There's going to be a lot of people where they're probably not even aware of what a squawk is, I think. I know. And I've been working on that, as you might have noticed on my social media in the past year. I've been really promoting 2020 was the year of the squawk.

so said me and I made it so and it's great because other people were catching on to that and making posts about it more and more people were doing art about the squawk but yeah let me give a quick little background on what a squawk is for those who don't know so obviously those who are listening to your podcast

probably have some interest in cryptosoology which cryptosoology and folklore creatures often kind of merged together. And I would say the squawk definitely qualifies more as a folklore creature than an actual cryptid. But those lines get blurred a lot. The squawk was first mentioned, at least first that I know of, was in 1910 in a book called Fier Some Creatures of the Lumberwoods. And that's where, you know, the Hodagh is mentioned in there, too. I know more of like the Hodag's history prior to the book, whereas the squawk, I don't know anything prior to the book.

But basically, it's a creature from the northern hemlock forest in Pennsylvania, and he's so ugly that he cries all the time. It's so sad. His skin doesn't fit, and he's just the saddest creature ever. And you can never actually capture a squawk, because if you tried to, which one explorer, did at one point capture a squawk and put it in a sack, and the squawk cried so much, it dissolved itself in a puddle of tears. Oh, that's funny. So it is really like the saddest creature out there,

which, you know, may seem like a weird thing to base a festival off of. Let's take, you know, the saddest creature ever made. But that's kind of what makes it fun, is our idea is to, you know, bring love to. the squawk. It's a very happy, loving festival. We're playing on the idea that, you know, basically turn

that frown upside down kind of situation and it's very lighthearted. It's going to be about a lot of cryptos. It's not particularly just the squank, but it is a squank based festival. So, because it's going to take place in Pennsylvania, you know, Pennsylvania War.

And the squank just always seemed like such a an interesting character. And I also, for those who don't know me, I've written a children's book about the squant called Why So Sad Squamk. And it's become a very central creature in my work over the past year and a half, too. So that's also why I really wanted to do a festival in The Squamks Honor. It's a really good book, too.

I have a copy of it. And it's got a good message to it. Squawk and Dog Man. And they learned some really good lessons that I would recommend any kids library have that book. So it's good stuff. Thank you. Thank you. You also have a full squant costume, correct?

Oh, I do. Yeah. So after I wrote the book and, you know, kind of decided to go. live-making squank more of my central character. I changed my logo over to the squawk because it used to be mothman. And I've really gotten very squawk-centric, but I also got a mackgot suit made of the squawk.

And yeah, I have the head custom made for me. And then I made the body suit out of a sloth onesie that I found on Amazon. So, yeah, I have a mass. suit, very inspired by Ben from the Hodak store, who I actually just had lunch with. Oh, nice. Are you in Wisconsin? No, he came through Denver.

Oh, okay. He's going skiing this week, so we met up and had lunch. That's awesome. How hard is it to get a custom mascot head made? Well, it's not that hard to get it made. It's just, it's expensive. Okay. Oh, sure.

Sure. Yeah. That makes sense. So that is, yeah. And I went for a cheap route than, you know, some like Ben's suits cost a lot more than mine, I imagine. It's pretty wild. I went pretty bargain basement because, you know, I don't have a whole lot of money as an independent stuffed animal maker. You don't get rich.

But it still, it does look really good, though, even though you went bargain. shopping. It looks great. It really looks pretty great. And I mean, they do it based on pictures of my stuffies. And yeah, so they sent me photos. Like, the years are a little poigner than I wanted.

But at that point, I was just like, yeah, that's good. I like it. And that'll do. A lot of times at events for people who don't know what it's quank is, they will call me a fat kitty. So I guess that a lot from little children.

but it's really exciting when someone looks at me from across, you know, the way and yells, oh my God, it's a squaw! There you go. Yeah, that's awesome. So as Squamca Loser, there will be a real squad. That's awesome. Yeah, so you can get probably your picture taken with this squawk, I would imagine. Absolutely.

We're definitely going to have some squank photo ops. We're going to do Children's Story Hour where I'll read the book, along with some other cryptic-themed children's books. We're going to have speakers, vendors galore, entertainment. There will be games, lots of games, prizes, and we're still, you know, piecing it all together. But yeah, we've got already a good, about 30-some vendors signed up. And then we've gotten several speaker applications that we're still kind of sorting out and deciding what we have time for. there will be movies.

So we've got Central Park in downtown Johnstown. We have, that park will be full of vendors inside to park and outside the park. And then there's a theater there in downtown that we also

will have taken over and will have movies and speakers over there. Okay. And then we're talking about potentially also doing a little music venue. down the way, but that's still, we're still kind of piecing that together. We've had some bands show interest in performing. So we're trying to figure that out right now. So it's still a lot of moving pieces. This is our first time, you know, putting on our own event. We do lots and lots and lots and lots of other events, but it's our first time as hosts. So it's definitely interesting being on this side. of it. It's different.

Remind me, is this a, is it a free event or is this event that where? Yeah. It is. Okay. It is a free event. So everything will be no charge.

We're asking, of course, that people spend months, spend their money at our vendors. Yes. So come for the free games and entertainment, but spend some money with our vendors because we're getting people to come out from various different states and travel for it. And it's expensive to do that, as I know, because that's what I do all the time.

Yeah. So, yeah, support our vendors. And that's why we want to make all of the entertainment and everything free for people coming out. It's so as motivation to spend money with our vendors and support them and make it the best possible event for everyone who comes out. Do you think there might be some exclusive squawk-themed merchandise to pick up at this festival? There 100% will be, and I've already had some vendors tell me they're working on some extra squawk items. And, of course, I'm going to have a plethora of squank swag available, as well, Joe.

but all of our vendors who are coming out, like most of them are cryptic theme. There will be some that aren't, but we're trying to stick with, you know, mostly cryptic themed. And people definitely have told me that they're working on swamp specific items.

That's awesome. So I know you said that the speakers are still being gone through. Is there, are there any vendors that you can give us a sneak? peak as to who will be there or is that still underwent? Oh, absolutely. Okay. No, I mean, we have lots of really great vendors.

Jamie Snell will be there. Danner conjured us and it's going to be his birthday also. So we're really excited. I've got plans on having the squawk in a party hat specifically for Dana's birthday. So that's fine. Let's see. shapeless flame,

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That's a solid list so far. Yeah, so there's a lot of like really excellent vendors and so many more that I'm not thinking about the top of my head. Yeah, yeah. So we've got like, like I said, about 30 already signed up. We have space for about 50. Plus, you know, we're going to offer speakers vendor spots as well. Nice. Hopefully we've got a few great sponsors, Cryptids of the Corn are one of our sponsors.

I love those guys. Yeah, so I'm excited. I'll probably be doing an interview with them at some point about the event as well beforehand. And, yeah, we're hoping to get lots and lots of people to come out and see us. That's legit. And probably one of the most important questions of all, is there going to be food there too, Lisa? Well, so I was talking with what I really wanted in my dream. dream of making this all happens.

Are you familiar with a mythical pizza? Yeah. Out of West Virginia. Yeah. So I was trying to get them to come out. Oh, wow. Last time I talked to them, they were talking about getting a food truck,

but I spoke to them this week. They haven't got a food truck, but they might come and set up a booth where they sell their cryptic food sodas. Oh, cool. Still to get them out. But we're planning on getting a couple of food trucks. Okay. Come out and food.

The theater will offer. concessions there, popcorns and sodas and such. But yeah, we're definitely planning on hooking up a couple of street traps to be there as well. But we have not got those on the books just yet because we're planning on more to come. I find something local there since I couldn't get mythical pizza to get a food truck inside.

But I'm hoping to get some merch because I absolutely love them. And I have the full collection of their sodas. So I've seen them online and it's like oh man someday I've got to get out there to try those they look so awesome. Yeah, I haven't actually been there yet. Actually it's a stay from the snarly yell pick me up all the sodas and he was there and brought him to me at Mockman Festival and people kept trying to buy them off my table and I was like, I got a high he is because he said it's mine.

But like after he brought him and I had just set him on the table to have some place to put him. People kept coming up, oh, can I buy that? I'm like, no, those are mine. Get your mitts up. There's no, I'm really interested to see what you end up playing at the movie theater. There's no squawk movies or docks out, right? No, there are no squawk movies, but I guess, and I'm not, Joe has talked to, he showed his film at Mockman Festival. It's a Mockman film that I know.

we've got kind of it lined up. Okay. So I've been working with that. So I'm not 100% on the details of that. Yeah, got you. We will have something. We're hoping to also just have crypt-themed movies going throughout the day. Nice.

But we're kind of still working on what space the theater's giving us and they aren't going to charge for anything. They're just, you know, hoping people, you know, buy concessions and things. And they'll probably set out a donations chart since they won't be charging for any of the movies that they do that day. And that's also where our speakers will be. So she'll working out all of the details on that. Man, it sounds like a really good time. Lisa, it's going to be awesome. People really need to make sure they can get to it, clear their calendars because it's going to be a good time.

Yes. So it is August 26th. So it's the week after Crypted Bash, a few weeks before Mothman Festival. Oh, man. So, you know, it'll be a good time. Yeah. And it's a one-day event, but we'll have things going on through the weekend. So we've talked to a haunted history tour place.

They're going to be doing tours Friday night. So before the event, that'll be available. On Saturday night, we're going to have a big, after party. That'll also be a dinner birthday party. And we're going to have that. That'll be open to the public. And I'm not sure the location on that just yet.

And then we'll also, like on Sunday, there's a town art walk. Oh, cool. That's going to be happening. Yeah. So there's going to be things that we're working with throughout the town all weekend. Even though our festivals technically only the one day, we kind of have a our hands in all sorts of stuff going on that weekend for everyone to enjoy. Well, I really like how you're using the festival to also sounds like help out the economy

of the town in a lot of different ways. That's really cool. So people, if you are a little town. Yeah. And I'm really excited. If you're playing on going, it sounds like you need to plan for a few days and get an Airbnb for a few days because there's a lot of stuff going on. But Lisa, how can you?

How can people keep up to date? Yeah. How can people keep up to date with stuff as it updates for the festival? Well, the best way is on Instagram and Facebook. We have stuff set up. So at Squamca Palooza on Instagram. I think it's Facebook.com backslash squankapalooza. Squamcaplusa.com is our website, which also has the link.

And of course, follow me at Cryptid underscore comforts on Instagram. And I link everything. Joe at CryptoMeteology. He'll have all the information as well. So we're just, we keep on posting on social media. And right now, Spongapalooza only has like 300 some followers on Instagram. So we're trying to build that constantly. But I mean, the fact that a couple weeks ago, we only had 100.

Pretty good. I mean, you got to. too, because I know the squawk team is out there because I made a squawk TikTok once where I was a little sassy towards the squawk. Not on purpose, but it came across like that and it got like 70K hits and the people were coming after me. They were like, don't mess with the squawk. He's my baby, you know, stuff like that. So the squawk team is out there. Well, okay.

Okay, so see, I need you to put a squawk to leave a TikTok out for me. I'll see what I can do. Because I stuck at TikTok. Like, I'm tried with TikTok. And I'm lucky if like 10 people look at my videos because I don't understand it. It's weird. It's so weird. But I actually, one of our sponsors have, she's doing, so I feel like I'm going to pronounce it.

Comey, A-E-V-K-A-M-I. Okay. Comey. I think that's how you spell it. Look her up on Instagram because she, she's doing, she's got a squawk plushy right now that is, uh, she's doing a Kickstarter for. And it's kind of one of those like if you like the kickstar, she's got a deer man and a president of night walker.

And then she raises enough. She gets to do you to squawk. So the squant's kind of like a third level. And so we've got to make sure she gets squawk down. Yeah, totally. But she's our sponsors and she's amazing and super adorable. and she puts out cute stuff all the time. I love her.

And so she was telling me the other day that on Reddit, there were posts about Splanka Palooza. So I got on Reddit yesterday. And I saw some people talking about it. And I was like, oh, that's really rad. I'm like, yeah. I'm sorry, staying my table where the phone is. I'm very excited.

But yeah, so I'm trying out different social medias that I've never tried before to spread the word. There you go. I don't know. I mean, I do Instagram all the time and I kind of what, like, I don't have time to run all these different social media. So I'm trying to, you know, run a business by myself. Oh, I totally. I understand.

Yeah. Plus works for cryptic crate. Like, I got my hands a little. Oh, I forgot about the cryptic crate thing. Yeah. Yeah. You can have a lot going on. I've been working with them for a long time now, too.

So, yeah, doing doing a lot in the crypticrate. community trying to manage my social media too is tricky. That's wild. You know, I've got Instagram down, so I feel good about that one, but it's the rest of them. And now I'm managing three different Instagram pages. I've got mine. I've got Sponka Paloosa and I've got crypticrate. Oh, I don't know how you do that.

Good for you. Well, Lisa, it has been fun. It's been fun chatting with you. Always a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you for hanging out and letting us know all about the Squanka Palooza coming up. Yes. And if anyone has any questions, feel free to email me at Squamca Palooza at gmail.com. And yeah.

All right. Thanks, Lisa. Thank you for listening to Bigfoot Society. If you like the show, please review and rate it five stars on iTunes. Hit the share button and send this episode to all your friends on social media. Subscribe to Bigfoot Society wherever you listen to podcast. It doesn't cause to think. Pick up a Bigfoot Society shirt or enamel pen over on our Etsy page, and people will tell you all about their Bigfoot sightings when you wear it.

At least that's what people tell us. That's what happens. If you'd like to become an official member of Bigfoot Society with a membership card, a community of like-minded individuals, and extra content each month, then please consider becoming a supporter of the podcast by going to www.p.orgatriac.com Thanks for listening. On this episode of plant killers, we'll explore one nation's most notorious fruit and vegetable killer, bad dirt. What makes bad dirt so bad? The answer? The ingredients.

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