LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — You didn’t have to look far to catch a glimpse of Columbia Borough’s elusive legend.
The 11th annual Albatwitch Festival returned to Lancaster County on Saturday and organizers couldn’t be happier to welcome their community back.
“It has just taken off like crazy now," said Chris Vera. "It’s amazing to see how many people come out to this every year. Today was a booming day.”
Despite running for over a decade, Vera said it took time for the festival to find footing.
“First year we had a great day, we had the streets blocked off in Columbia and it sort of had its rocky moments, so we had to finetune everything, you know?”
Vera is also president of the Columbia Historic Preservation Society.
More than 80 vendors came out to sell various products, including John Reitzel with JR’s Photography and Custom Framing.
“I met some people from out of state that bought stuff from me today," Reitzel said. "There’s been a lot of people I don’t recognize here. A lot of the Columbia events you recognize [others] because it’s a small town, but I also met a lot of people I never met before so it was neat to get the word out.”
The festival also offered paranormal lectures, trolley tours and an assortment of apple-themed goods.
However, no matter what people took home, everyone was there for the Albatwitch.
The creature is described as a small bigfoot-like creature that likes to feed on apples. Its legend has persisted in Lancaster County for more than 200 years, though some of its earliest sightings weren’t published until the 1920s.
“We have 60 documented sightings in Lancaster and York County. They are documented, so we like to keep it that way because a lot of people say they see a juvenile bigfoot, [but it's not with its mother]. You’ve got to look at where it came from and what it was doing,” Vera said.
The Albatwitch is commonly depicted to be 3-to-5 feet tall, have black fur and bright yellow eyes.
Whether you’ve seen the creature or not, you can expect to see more guests at next year’s festival.
“I give it a big thumbs up for sure,” Reitzel said.