You might be wondering…

1) What is the Bigfoot Poetry Festival?

The Bigfoot Poetry Festival is a three-day poetry event that happens in early summer in downtown Portland, OR. While changing from year-to-year, typically this festival offers such features as poetry open mics, writing / performance workshops, poet showcases, an artists market, and a poetry slam tournament.

2) What is the Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam?

The Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam is a three-day competition, part of the Bigfoot Poetry Festival. Sixteen teams of four (or sometimes five) poets compete in team poetry slams across the first two nights, culminating in a Finals Stage event where the top four teams win prizes. Click here for the official rules of the competition.

3) Are all of the poems read at the festival about Bigfoot?

This is a question we have received (no joke) a surprising number of times! Often, regional tournaments / festivals tied into spoken word poetry find their title through a reference to said region (examples: Southwest Shootout, Southern Fried, Rustbelt Slam, Midwest Poetry Mashup, etc.). When naming this festival back in 2018, we wanted to give it a distinctly Pacific Northwest title.

In short - while we welcome poetry on all subject matter, no, all of the poetry read will not be about Bigfoot. Sorry!

4) When does the Bigfoot Poetry Festival happen?

The next Bigfoot Poetry Festival will happen on July 10 - 12, 2025. There most likely will be an optional meet-and-greet event in the evening before the festival begins (July 9) for anyone traveling into the city a day early.

5) How much does it cost to register?

The registration fee for each team of 4-5 poets is $150.

6) Where does the registration money go?

Every dollar paid into registration goes toward the cash prizes awarded at the end of the final event.

7) What do the winning teams get?

In addition to glory, applause, and trophies, winning teams receive $1,200 for first place, $600 for second place, $400 for third place, or $200 for fourth place.

8) How do I sign up?

Sign-ups for teams of poets will open at 12:00PM PST on January 17, 2025. To register, you’ll click the registration button on the home page of this site (or find the link on our Instagram or Facebook), which will take you to a Google form to fill out for submission. There are sixteen spots, and the first sixteen teams to submit will be the teams registered and competing. Any teams that submit after the spots are filled will be placed on a wait list.

After you have received confirmation that your team is registered, send the registration fee of $150 within a month to the Bigfoot Festival’s PayPal (bigfootregional@gmail.com) to officially reserve your spot. Please email bigfootregional@gmail.com to talk about different option that work for your team is PayPal is a no go.

If payment is not received within a month of registering and we have not heard from you, your spot will be given to the team at the top of the wait list and your team will be moved to the bottom.

9) How are teams formed?

Teams can be formed in any way that works for the poets.  Teams formed by local slams, mics, college clubs, etc. are all accepted at the Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam. Pickup teams, formed by four to five poets from one or more poetry scenes, are also accepted. The process for how teams are formed is up to the poets and/or venue sending the team.

10) Is there an age limit?

No, there are no age restrictions. The preliminaries and finals venue are all ages. Not all day / evening event locations are guaranteed to allow all ages. Age restrictions, if any, will be communicated to all registered teams ASAP.

11) Can more than one scene from a city compete?

Yes! Only one representing team per open mic/slam is encouraged, but if your city has multiple poetry venues, or some local poets who’d like to form their own separate team, they are all allowed to come out and compete.

12) Is there an Indies competition in the poetry tournament?

At this time, due to restrictions and resources, our tournament only offers a team competition.

For any other questions, please contact bigfootregional@gmail.com, or DM us on Facebook or Instagram