GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Oddities & Curiosities Expo at DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids drew a crowd of around 13,000–14,000.
The event travels to more than two dozen cities across the country, and it stops in Grand Rapids for one specific reason.
“Tony, my other half, he’s actually from Grand Rapids,” Co-owner Michelle Cozzaglio said.
All sorts of strange things can be found inside, including many taxidermized animals.
“We don’t have anything human-related at our show. It’s all animal shells. It’s all sustainably sourced. Nothing was killed for the sake of our show, or collecting from our show,” Cozzaglio said.
FOX 17 spoke to four different people: an event organizer and multiple attendees.
We asked them all: If Christmas in July is a thing, is this like Halloween in July?
Everyone answered essentially the same.
"Halloween every day," attendee Gabrielle Thrush said.
“Halloween, like, every day,” Cozzaglio said.
“It’s like Halloween almost every day for us,” attendees Chris and Johanna Grimm said. The couple spends hours getting ready regularly in dramatic makeup.
The Grimms enjoy the expo because it's a gathering of like-minded people.
“It’s just not like a judging eye if that makes sense,” Johanna Grimm said.
It makes total sense to attendee Gabrielle Thrush.
“My people are here, the weirdos are here, and I love them,” Thrush said.
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