July 28, 2025

Skulls, taxidermy and other stuff of nightmares head to Oddities & Curiosities Expo

The event in Montgomery County promises shoppers unique statement pieces, sideshow acts and classes on preserving beetles and spiders. It takes place Aug. 16-17.

By Kristin Hunt
PhillyVoice Staff

Provided image/Oddities & Curiosities Expo

The Oddities & Curiosities Expo will bring goth jewelry, Halloween-inspired art, taxidermy, preserved animals, skulls, antiques and other collectibles to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center on Aug. 16-17.

A traveling marketplace of skulls, preserved butterflies and macabre art coming to Philly this summer promises shoppers true statement pieces.

The Oddities & Curiosities Expo, a self-described "playground for the strange and unusual," arrives Aug. 16-17. Each day, vendors will sell antiques and original pieces inside the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks. The goods range from taxidermied or preserved animals to goth jewelry and funeral collectibles. (It is also, probably, the only place in Montgomery County to score Mothman bath bombs.) Sideshow acts and tarot readers will provide additional entertainment.

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"We created this expo to give odd small businesses and artists a space where they can thrive," Michelle Cozzaglio, the event's co-founder, said in a press release. "Our goal is to build a community where people feel safe to be themselves, surrounded by like-minded folks who appreciate the weird and wonderful."

Anyone can shop the floor for $15 – or $10, for tickets purchased in advance – but aspiring etymologists can learn how to preserve and pin beetles or spiders for additional fees. The Sleeping Sirens, a Florida-based art collective that dabbles in taxidermy education, will host classes Sunday at 10 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. for $150. Their Saturday class on raccoon taxidermy is lengthier and more expensive at $325.

The expo will open each day at 10 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. While it is open to all ages, the organizers caution parents to use their judgement on whether to bring their kids. They will, unquestionably, encounter the stuff of nightmares. For most of the artists and shoppers, that's kind of the point.