Michelle Cozzaglio, co-owner and curator of the Oddities & Curiosities Expo, says that, for years, people have been telling her to bring the event to Pittsburgh, viewing it as the kind of town that might enjoy “weird and wonderful” wares like scavenged bone art, spooky animal jewelry, and antique keys.
“I like to say [the Expo] is for lovers of the strange and unusual,” she says. “[So] we’re excited to finally be here.”
Billing itself as the original touring event for oddities vendors, the day-long expo makes its Pittsburgh debut on Sat., Aug. 26 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Attendees can expect artists, antique dealers, and small businesses, with vendors picked specifically to showcase “all things weird.” Given that broad theme, the list of peculiar items ranges from taxidermy, animal skulls, and preserved specimens; artwork with Halloween and horror elements; creepy clothing and jewelry; quack medical devices; funeral collectibles; and other vintage items and ephemera.
Oddities & Curiosities vendors hail both nationally and locally, and visitors can expect to see Allentown’s The Weeping Glass gift shop — whose online store lists candles, antique daguerreotypes, and memorial cards, as well as “sad merch for sad kids” and other items — in the mix.
Cozzaglio tells Pittsburgh City Paper that the expo originated with her personal collection of strange items (she has a soft spot for old letters and postcards). She wondered what would happen if there were a market focused on just that aesthetic. In 2017, she and her husband, Tony, organized the first oddities expo in their hometown of Tulsa, Okla.
Since then, Oddities & Curiosities has grown into a 30-city U.S. tour, expanding to the East Coast, and adding its first Pittsburgh stop this year. It also travels to Australia, making it a truly international event.
“I think we bring this sense of community into each city that we go to,” Cozzaglio says. “People can come and be themselves and, you know, shop other weirdos.”
The tour prides itself on being “completely DIY [run] from start to finish” with all items legally and sustainably sourced.
In addition to shopping the marketplace, Expo attendees can catch live performers doing classic sideshow stunts — think walking on glass and sword swallowing —every 15 minutes. A traveling Oddities Museum is open to walk through (with the purchase of another ticket), styled as an “old-school freak show” circus tent displaying taxidermized pets and other one-of-a-kind specimens. Cozzaglio compares the experience to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!... except with a mad clown.
Epitomizing the DIY feel, the Expo also offers a rabbit taxidermy class. Contrary to what you might assume, it’s not a demonstration, but a six-hour, hands-on course with each participant making a full body mount of their own rabbit (also sustainably sourced). Students can experiment with adding pastel pigments to their rabbit’s fur or building antlers to create a jackalope — ensuring they leave with something odder and curiouser.
Oddities & Curiosities Expo. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat., Aug. 26. David L. Lawrence Convention Center. 1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd., Downtown. $10-15, free for kids 12 and under. Additional fees apply for workshops and other offerings. odditiesandcuriositiesexpo.com
Oddities & Curiosities Expo arrives to keep Pittsburgh extra weird
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