Tale of the tee: Pennsylvania Bigfoot Believers

My favorite line from the holiday movie classic “Miracle on 34th Street” is uttered by child star Natalie Wood.

While the adults in her life preach the importance of having faith, specifically that a Macy’s store Santa is the real Kris Kringle, she remains a skeptic.

“I believe, I believe,” she says unconvincingly. “It’s silly but I believe.”

It’s an apt quote for our new Pennsylvania Bigfoot Believers Tee, too, which is our silliest design to date (and one that’s also available on a sticker).

What the heck, why should the Pacific Northwest have all the fun when it comes to tales of an ape-like creature standing up to 10 feet tall and roaming our forests?

Besides, Pennsylvania ranked third for Bigfoot sightings (behind Washington and California) in a 2019 study by Travel Channel and the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. The latter has logged more than 1,340 Pennsylvania sightings, including ones in Lancaster and York counties.

Bigfoot accounts in Pennsylvania go back to December 1858, according to Pennlive, when newspapers across the country reported:

"Wild People - In Lancaster, Pa., a thing like a man, but hairy as a bear, has been seen by the people. It was very wild and strong. It was once seen in a pen, sucking the cows, and when discovered it started as if about to fight, and then turned and fled, bounding like a deer. It walks upright and is supposed to be a wild man."

A good place to roam

Sas-Q Valley, which adorns the front of the new tee, plays off Bigfoot’s alias, Sasquatch, and the Susquehanna Valley, sometimes called the “Sus-Q Valley,” which Wikipedia defines as “a region of low-lying land that borders the Susquehanna River in the U.S. states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.”

I like to think a wild man, a Bigfoot, a Sasquatch, whatever you wish to call it, would find this region a good place to roam, maybe meet a partner, raise a family.

At Christmas, I imagine those sweet, innocent Bigfoot children hanging their stockings by a camp fire in the Pennsylvania woods. Bigfoot’s feet are like 18 inches long, so the stockings are really big and you know they’re going to look empty no matter what Santa brings.

But the Bigfoot children are grateful for whatever they get. The family lives modestly, mostly because it’s often on the move. If we had a good address for Bigfoot, Stay would send the family a set of tees, maybe our Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful or Pennsylvania Craft Beer designs.

Alas, our largest size is only a 2XL, which won’t even fit the children. The whole Bigfoot family laughs good-naturedly about the notion.

Perhaps we could send stickers instead or Stay tumblers. We’ll figure something out because we love Bigfoot.

It’s silly, I know, but I believe.