HARRISBURG (WSIL)---You may not believe your eyes when you see the Shawnee Sasquatch Festival.
It begins Saturday morning with the Run Like a Squatch 5-K.
It's the first time the city of Harrisburg has put on the event.
The festival is free to the public with live entertainment, carnival rides, and guided hikes of the Shawnee National Forest.
Harrisburg mayor John McPeek said the festival's name comes with the areas rich history of monsters.
"Well you know there's always been a talk of the southern Illinois monsters. Right here in Harrisburg alone we have what we call tuttle bottoms, so there's always been sayings of sightings of a monster down there. I think over the years everyone's talked about Sasquatch and Bigfoot being in the southern Illinois area, so that's how we came up with the name," said McPeek.
Illinois has the second highest number of Bigfoot sightings in America.
Organizers said to be on the look out if you attend Saturday's festival.
