4th of July Fizzle

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We are calling this the “Bigfoot Eruption 4th of July Summer Fizzle.” Why such a name? well, in some ways it was a bust. We will let you decide:

Left home at around 8:00 AM. Arrived and set up completed around 9:00 AM. This included laying out 150 shirts of two designs. Trent at No-Dinx Graphics (Albany, Oregon) had punned them as the Explosion tee, and Forestry tee:

Our Bigfoot (Kyler Ness) passed out business cards as set up continued. People really liked this. Our mascot is now seven years old, and in a bigfoot costume, this really is a receptive site, as opposed to a grown up approaching you with a business card.

We tried to get the point across that, “Come back after the parade for free lemonade and you can look at our super inexpensive shirts. Meaning they are not “cheap” in quality, but not costing much for the customer. This became truth as we sold for a super low price as you will see…

We were getting no business so it was time to load our Bigfoot (Kyler) into the wagon and we offered lemonade to those nearby who were waiting for the Independence Day parade to start. Many were amused, and some children had some Country-time Lemonade, but despite our sharing that were offering free lemonade and inexpensive “glow-in-the-dark” Bigfoot shirts, we didn’t get any visitors until much later.

We considered selling the lemonade for a price, then settled on just asking for a donation. It was clear that when we were in the heat of the moment we needed to just give it away.

A group of runners were the first aspect of the parade, so we sat down to cheer them on. On runner was wearing a Bigfoot shirt. We yelled, “Hey, Bigfoot shirt woo hoo!” The runner did not seem to hear us. If that runner ever reads this, or if you know him, be sure to “Contact Us.”

After the runners had all passed there was a lull so we went to work. Baack into the wagon he went, as we had him throw candy. We shared about Bigfoot Eruption, lemonade, shirts, and so on. We were methodical as we had him throw at each individual person and instead of spray it around. This created a one-on-one feeling.

One comical phrase we blurted to the crowd, “We created BigfootEruption.com…advertising every Bigfoot store in the world…because someone needed to do it.”

One candy was different from all the others. We shared that the person that randomly gets this candy, would get a free t-shirt.

As the parade got closer o us we bailed, and took our seats again. We saw the Sheriff approaching.

A ‘Selfie Squatch” moment occurred. You just never know!

Also, there was an Icee Bear sighting.

When the parade was over we said goodbye to our new friends (the people were sitting with) and got down to business.

Droves of parade-go-ers were passing, as they kept going to their parked cars. Were we invisible?

I decided to document with a video, sharing how things were not working out as we had prayed, when our first customer blessed us with $20 for a two Forestry tees, which we will call the “Know where you are going” design. Would not want to get in trouble. The image of Bigfoot among trees in a badge or shield, made it easy to call it the Forestry Tee for communications with No-Dinx Graphics As you may know, our slogan is “Before you travel – Know where you are going.” this is implying that our site will help you know where the bigfoot stores are for your trip, just check on the map.

If this customer reads this, please “Contact Us” as I am sorry I did not write down your name, and you have historic significance. Thank you for being the first.

The person who won the free shirt, never came. So an opportunity! a young man, Cayden, was approached his car with his family. We offered him the same opportunity, and he said yes. He picked a Navy Blue “Know where you are going” glow-in-the-dark tee. Also, a history making moment. Thanks Cayden! Also, thanks to his dad for letting this happen.

One young man was approaching us, and seemed very curious about what things he could see. However, his dad called him away, asking “Where are you going!?” We mourned, as the young man was led away.

We paid this forward, when another young man was near. We asked him, his mom, and sister, if they would like a Bigfoot Eruption t-shirt, for $5. It as desperation time! The mom apologized to her son, saying she didn’t have any cash. We didn’t want to put the mom on the spot, so I didn’t share that I had a Paypal card reader that would accept a credit card. Instead, we implemented the only strategy that made sense, as we said, “You are a future customer” we told the young man, “Come pick a shirt for free.” He happily chose a red “Know where you are going” shirt. I looked up and the mom and sister were fading away in the distance as the boy walked away to them. We felt bad that his sister did not get one, but what we learned from our day, was to not push it. For someone to find the Bigfoot Phenomenon interesting, well, some people just don’t.

It was clear that now with the parade completed, and most had left, that despite tons of cars passing on Monmouth Street, we were not going to get anyone else.

We slowly packed up in case anyone would come. No one else came. We left by 3:30 PM. It had started to sprinkle some rain, and even though this felt great, it made it clear to load the computers and shirts.

We did take many positives from this experience:

Knowledge that a Washington town celebrates “Harry and the Henderson’s.”

Knowledge of Bigfoot stuff in Cougar, Washington.

Knowledge of a Bigfoot super-fan.

Lessons learned.

Met new friends.

I thanked Kyler for his help and he admitted that he had come for the candy. As you know, parades often throw candy.

Next year, we will register with the city of Independence to be downtown by the actual celebration at the park by the Willamette River; however, Kristen Ness (Co-owner) is suggesting that we need to focus on Bigfoot festivals where we have Bigfoot-minded customers. Sounds  like a great idea!

Checking with the Oregon Bigfoot Festival to see if we can come and sell our product.

Check out how we ended our “Eruption” of a day!