A small town will celebrate something tall, dark and mysterious when the second annual WNC Bigfoot Festival{/strong} is held Saturday in downtown Marion.

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“You may come a skeptic, but you’ll leave a believer,” Marion public information officer Landdis Hollifield said.

It may be hard to believe that last year officials anticipated about 5,000 visitors. They’ve added an extra zero to the projections for this year.

“There’s going to be a ginormous crowd, actually. Last year, we had about 30,000 people, and we had very little promotion of the event. And this year, we’ve gotten calls from people across the United States from, people who want to come. So, we’re expecting probably around 50,000 people this year," Hollifield said.

Calling all Bigfoots ... or is it Bigfeet?

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Saturday’s event will include food, crafts, exhibits and a Bigfoot calling contest.

Walk down Marion’s Main Street and you quickly realize something buzzworthy’s afoot, with murals at close to a dozen businesses.

“I think it’s really cool that our little tiny town is incorporating Bigfoot,” Dawn Hicks said. “This little town has been dead for a long time, so to see something like this take off and for people to come downtown from around the country is fantastic.”

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Mr. Bob’s Donuts has a mural illustrating plans for chocolate-covered concoctions called Bigfoot Poop.

“It’s a really high energy thing. I haven’t had a conversation all week that didn’t have to do with Bigfoot, and I think it’s really fun!” said Anna Branam, who was painting a mural outside McDowell Arts Council.

Friday afternoon, a man in a Sasquatch suit posed downtown with fascinated residents and even TV reporters.

Reviving downtown Marion once seemed like a big feat, but the unexpected success of this festival is anticipated to bring a ton of Bigfoot traffic.

“We love Bigfoot, too. He’s everywhere,” Hollifield said of the city’s Main Street.