Hope you didn’t put away your Halloween decorations, because even in January spooks are coming to Monroe with The Michigan Oddities and Horror Fest.
Hosted by Nate Thompson, owner of the Michigan Museum of Horrors, the two-day weekend festival features a wide variety of attractions, including vendors, celebrities, food trucks, costume contests, and much more.
The Monroe News spoke with Thompson to get a first glimpse of what’s coming to the fourth annual fest.
Q: What are the dates and times for the festival?
A: So, it’s Jan. 31 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. And Feb. 1 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Q: Where is it held?
A: It will be at FMD Expo Center in Monroe, Michigan, 3775 South Custer Road, and then 48161.
Q: How much are tickets? And where can people find them?
A: So, tickets for this one, we try to keep it relatively affordable. It’s just $20 for general admission, but anybody eight and under is free. And we do that because, you know, we have a big family ourselves, so we know what it’s like to… you know, mom and dad want to do something for the weekend, but don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for the kids. So, we just let the 8 and under in free so that way whole families can have an affordable experience.
They can get tickets at the door or we do have them online at mihorrorfest.com.
Q: Do you have to pay for parking?
A: Nope, free parking.
Q: How many vendors will you have this year?
A: So, we advertise 150 plus right now. I know we’re finishing up a few confirmations for a few last minute vendors, but right now we have… I believe it’s 163 or 164, so we’re expecting anywhere from 160 to 170 vendors.
Q: What makes this event different from previous years?
A: Honestly, I always hand it to the vendors. That’s going to be the people that really make it different every year. We pride ourselves on being able to select cool vendors, but if those cool vendors or unique vendors don’t exist in the first place and it’s hard to really be able to select them.
But, that’s what amazes us every single year about this. And we’ll get there on opening day and I’ll promise myself I’ll just work the event, and I end up walking around and I honestly end up spending everything I have in my pocket. There’s so many cool people offering cool stuff and it’s like, ‘Man, I want that for my house or I need that for the museum or my old lady wants this.’
Q: Will there be food available?
A: Yup. We have two of our staple food trucks that have been with us from the very beginning, but this year we’re going to have a little bit more than we usually have had in previous years. So, we’ll have about four to five food trucks, all offering anything from fried chicken sandwiches to lemonade and donuts and coffee and everything else in between.
Q: Have your numbers increased over the years?
A: Yep. So, last year was our biggest show that we’ve ever had. It did rival the previous year, but that was because we had a pretty big celebrity. Kane Hodder joined us that second year.
This year, I expect the foot traffic to be the same as we did last year because we didn’t really have too many celebrities last year, but this year we’ve brought out a couple bigger names and a few more celebrities than what we are used to bringing out.
Q: What celebrities will be there?
A: So, this is my personal favorite… Gangrel, who was the leader of The Brood in 90s attitude era wrestling. He’s going to be there, that’s just a personal favorite of mine.
And then we have Grimm Life Collective, who are probably two of the biggest YouTubers in terms of, like, they travel around to haunted destinations and different grave sites and just a really good group of people.
And then we got Jamison Newlander, from The Lost Boys. And then and a few other names too, but one of my favorites I should mention: Dr. Satan from House of a Thousand Corpses. He’s actually going to be in costume as Dr. Satan. So, people are going to be able to do pictures with him all weekend long.
Q: What is it that makes these events so popular?
A: Well, I definitely think people like seeing stuff up close. That peaks to their curiosity.
…And you know, there’s a lot of people in this part of Michigan, too, that don’t really drive 30 minutes out of their way to go to anything. So, they’re looking for something more local that they can attend and I think it allows people be weird and hang around abunch of fellow people that are also into weird stuff, and for a little bit there, everyone’s just kind of normal.
— Contact reporter Connor Veenstra at CVeenstra@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe welcomes vendors to fourth Michigan Oddities and Horror Fest
Reporting by Connor Veenstra, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
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