Siberian Yeti in Kemerovo Attention is in Time for Yeti Day Nov 11th

For you fans that have been with us for a while, you will remember our post last year about the Kemerovo Yeti Day on November 11th. This day marks the beginning of Kemerovo's ski season.

Click the following link to read our entire Kemerovo Siberian Yeti Coverage.

On Nov 4, 2010, we referenced a Russian publication with the following quotes:

"...Several advertising and PR experts said that Bigfoot reports were probably teasers for attracting tourists to the region. Three months after the sensational news tourism agencies had introduced excursions to 'Yeti's Cave.'

'Every year Yeti Day celebrations will mark the start of the ski season with thousands of ski lovers from all over Russia gathering on Mount Shoriya,' Zauervayn said, adding that Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev is likely to take part in the Yeti-dedicated festivities..."

When the sensation in Kemerovo started this year we had added the caveat that this may be similar to last years ramp up towards the tourism and ski season in Kemerovo, but we were still excited about the group of people involved including Dr. Jeff Meldrum and Igor Burtsev.

While the tourism angle has eluded most of the media, it is refreshing to see a St. Louis Paper seems to have gone beyond the press release and talks about the economic motivation of the Kemerovo local government.

...The government of Russia's Kemerovo region said a two-day expedition last weekend by yeti experts had "collected irrefutable evidence" of the yeti's existence. Among the "irrefutable evidence": a couple of hairs, what was presumed to be a den and indistinct footprints.

Exciting though this news might be, it's important to remember that Kemerovo — in remote southwestern Siberia — has endured tough economic times since the collapse of the Soviet Union two decades ago. Yeti-based tourism and a government research center are among the Kemerovo government's goals...

SRC: STLToday.com

Do we care that tourism is the impetus of the sensational claims from Kemerovo? No. We think the mainstream attention towards the phenomena of Bigfoot, Sasquatch and Yeti is a good thing. If the attention peaks the interest of one smart person willing to do research and dig deeper, its worth any number of ignorant ones whose minds would not have been changed otherwise.