Oddmall Emporium of the Weird
This weekend I decided to go to an art market I have been to before as the vendors are good despite its surprising location. Off in the Evergreen State Fairgrounds of Monroe, Washington is the “Oddmall - Emporium of the Weird”. In this small town half an hour drive at highway speeds outside Seattle that lay in the foothills of the Cascade mountains is a selection of artists and vendors worth seeing. I packed up and made the drive.
The fairgrounds are right off the exit and remembering the trouble I had getting out of the parking lot last time, took the first parking spot I could find and walk the extra 50 yards rather than risk spending an extra half hour trying to get out near closing time. (I later would find out that there is another parking lot and exit farther away but it is easy to get out of and has a stoplight which helps getting back onto the highway.) I entered the fairgrounds and into a large are with many buildings that looked like barns. The first building had a rumbling noise coming out of it and a sign outside saying "Roller Derby”. The rest were labeled with words such as “lambs”, “goats”, or “swine”. Then, finally, after the building hosting the 4H pizza party, I arrived at the memorial event center where I had to carefully squeeze between the food trucks to get to the front door and enter. Thankfully, it is free admission and they give you a map.
Inside is a large room filled with vendor tables. The map is a nice thing to have and useful to find you want back to sometime, but I just start by going up and down every row. There are artists of various types and people selling wares. Paintings, shadow boxes, stickers, and ‘zines dot the assortment. A fair amount of clothing including leather potion holders, belt pouches, and jewelry. A couple of booths were selling skulls and other bones as well as pelts along with tails, but I’m not sure if those were real. Not as much 3D printed toys as last year but still a good amount, along with dice, miniatures, and other table top gaming stuff. A number selling things related to their hobbies or fan culture. In general, a wide assortment of oddities.
I had a couple of missions to work out. First thing I wanted to do was make a pass through all the booths and see what they have. I try and spend some money when I go to these types of vendor events, but that typically means finding something I want. I make a pass and then think about the things I can remember thinking were cool. Next, I made another pass hitting all the art booths, checking out the art in a more attentive pattern to see how much would be suitable for this website. There was lots of painting and other artwork, and quite few went into dark art territory. I talked to some of the artists but stopped short of getting any photos or interviews.
In the end it was well worth it. Nice day out and saw some cool things. Picked up some magnets, patches, and other people’s ‘zines. Took a recommendation and had the gyro waffle fries from one of the food trucks outside. Talked to some artists. There are some links below. I always wanted to see more things I might like, so my goal is to try and provide the same to those that read it.
Artists:
San Miguel Art
Disturbing and strange paintings
Websitehttps://www.sanmiguelart.site/
Croteau Macabre
Professional illustrator who has does commsisoins
Websitehttps://www.croteaumacabre.com/
Dropping Needles Embroidery
Old School SeaGoth with embroidery
FaceBookhttps://www.facebook.com/VictoriasDroppingNeedles
Giusiana Prosser
Emotion driven art with a story to tell
Websitehttps://www.giusiana.art/