Macabre Market & Spooky City

Hello again, readers of Bleak Blog!

Once again, we spent a weekend vending a couple of very rad events.

Last Friday, we found ourselves at Venue 404 in downtown Oshkosh for the Macabre Market (presented
by Oshkosh Art Collective, Eroding Winds Record Shop, and Hype Visual). For a market location, Venue
404 is absolutely perfect. This 1926 building originally started life as a bank, and it is a phenomenal
example of Neo-Classical architecture. In fact, it was even featured in the film Public Enemies starring
Johnny Depp. For this event, the lights were dimmed, a playlist of excellently dark and moody music
(provided by Eroding Winds) set the tone, the bar provided their finest themed mixed drinks, and
everyone got into the spirit of spooky season as they shopped this wonderfully curated collection of
grim and gloomy goods.

As you might expect, we had a fantastic time! The market was absolutely slammed with patrons from
the moment the doors opened, and it felt like the perfect way to kick off the last weekend in October.
Even the music often overlapped with several of our soap names, and that is always a great sign. Quite a
few folks had the idea to come on over and buy a bar of Bloody Kisses while listening to Type O
Negative’s “Black No. 1” or snag a bar of Spellbound while Siouxsie Sioux let out her iconic ethereal wail
over “Spellbound”. (Thanks to Eroding Winds for providing such a great playlist for the evening!) Even
the unseasonably cold weather outside, with its howling wind and mild drizzle, couldn’t ruin this night.
We hope to make it back to Macabre Market every year!

After such a great evening, we coasted on our positive (yet bleak) vibes all the way down to Burlington,
Wisconsin for Saturday’s Spooky City event. For those unfamiliar, Spooky City is a city-wide event where
all of downtown Burlington gets in on a gussying up the city for one final Halloween hurrah. There were
casket races (more on those in a moment), a parade, food trucks galore, s’mores action stations, trick-
or-treating at local businesses, and vending from Madame Cora’s Emporium as well as yours truly. It was
a gorgeous and crisp fall day, perfect for positively fun times. From our booth, we had nearly front row
viewing of the casket races, and those were amazing! Picture competing teams, each comprised of four
people holding a weighted casket, wearing full costumes, and racing through downtown on foot. As this
was our first time at Spooky City, we didn’t realize how big a deal the casket races were – akin to
NASCAR, some local businesses had even sponsored caskets! (NASCasket?) It was killer to watch and be
a part of such a unique local event. Spooky City, you warmed our cold, black hearts. Special thanks to
Madame Cora’s Emporium for telling us about the event and making us feel incredibly welcome!

Until next time!

-Sean