Bladenboro hosts annual Beast Fest

BLADENBORO – In Bladen County, there are some quaint little communities.

One of those being Bladenboro with approximately 1600 people. The community has had its share of adversity of late with flooding, rebuilding and then more flooding, but the town has become stronger and more unified because of this. The term “town” should be renamed “family,” for that is a more accurate definition of those who live and work and raise their families there.

It is a town that knows how to roll up their sleeves and work together to create magical things. One of the most recent “magical events” that happens each October is an event they call “Beast Fest” named after a legendary and actual event that once upon a time transpired in that community.

According to boosttheboro.org, “In the small, southeastern community of Bladenboro, North Carolina, a series of vampire-like killings of pets and livestock was happening. The creature doing the killings was described by witnesses as a ‘large-like cat creature somewhere between 4 and 5 feet long.’

“Some said it resembled a bear—-Some claimed the creature’s cries sounded like a baby or a woman crying, but much louder. Whatever it was, it was very frightening to the community. So much so that the locals became afraid to leave their homes after dark. “Parties of armed men were organized. Over 700 hunters and trappers converged on the community of Bladenboro, vowing to either hunt down and capture the vampire beast or better yet KILL THE CREATURE on-site.

“Sure, there are those who say this was all just a hoax, but many residents who lived in this small community during those years still claim this to be true. Either way, for over 65 years, the creature commonly referred to as “The Beast of Bladenboro” remains an unsolved mystery for the Town of Bladenboro and we may never know the truth.”

According to Rebecca Hester, Bladenboro pharmacist at The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy, back when the late Hiram Hester was president of Boost the Boro, the group was looking for creative ways to draw people to Bladenboro.

“The only thing that they had really been famous for, was back in the ‘50s when the beast of Bladenboro would suck the blood out of livestock and killing people’s pets,” she said. “People claim they saw this beast and people from all over the world came to try to find and hunt it. Legends and Lore came to town and put up a marker. (Legends & Lore Marker Program: info@wgpfoundation.org).”

There has even been a television special on the Beast of Bladenboro.

“This is our 17^th year,” Hester said. “It’s just grown and grown and grown. It’s gotten bigger and better every year. I am on the committee and we will wait until after Christmas and then start up again, planning and meeting once a month until next October when we meet more each week.”

One of the event organizers was Claudette Guy who agreed that this is a festival that is planned long in advance and after Christmas, the planning for 2025 Beast Fest will begin for her as well, getting the vendors on board.

“I probably had over 100 craft vendors this year,” Guy said. “It’s one of the biggest ones we’ve ever had. I’ve also got 13 food vendors. We have such a small area and we can only take so many and now I’ve had to add a few to the craft area. I think the biggest challenge for this large of an event is just getting the people where they need to be. I must say that I have wonderful people to surround and help me. If it wasn’t for them, I’d be in trouble.”

Some of the activities that were featured at the two-day event were: bands, dancers, karate, cheerleaders, worship, a Halloween costume contest, DJs, and a trunk or treat that saw thousands of kids turn out for the harvest party.

Charles Ray Peterson, the Bladen County Commissioner for District 2 said that on the first night as the band “The Pink Slips” were performing the crowd was so massive you could hardly move.

“We don’t know what the beast is,” Peterson said. “But everybody came. The New York Times, hunters, and people from all over the world were here. Nobody got it. But, we as a community were looking for something to grow our community, so we created the ‘Beast Festival.’ This is the 17^th year and it has evolved into something so big. I just wish we had a bigger place to hold it. We would love to show our new downtown off with the new buildings and we are getting ready to build some more.”

When Peterson talks about his hometown, he gets a bit overwhelmed with sentiment.

“This is a community that has a lot of churches in it,” Peterson said. “And you would think that a community with a lot of churches wouldn’t get along, but this is different. This is family and it’s community and we all know each other. We may not all agree with each other on Sunday morning, but come Monday morning we’re family again.”

According to Peterson, there may have been as many as 10-15 thousand people that visited Bladenboro for Beast Fest this year.

According to the Boro website, “In 2008, Boost the Boro, Inc. became the host of an annual community festival known as ‘Beast Fest.’

“Beast Fest is always held on the last weekend of October and there is never a charge for attendance.

Since 2008, Beast Fest has become one of the fastest growing and largest attended weekend Fall festivals in Southeastern North Carolina. Conservative estimates put attendance of the Friday night and all-day Saturday festival to be in the 8,000 range.

“Beast Fest is completely underwritten by both business and personal sponsorships of various levels, allowing us to provide practically all of the events and activities completely free to attendees. All profits we receive from Beast Fest go directly back into our community to support various project initiatives that improve our community for both our residents and our small businesses. We always challenge ourselves to make Beast Fest better than the previous year. Our two main goals: Every event and activity must be in good taste and appropriate for the entire family and it must be safe, welcoming and have an ‘all inclusive’ atmosphere.”