Feeling creepy? Kooky? All together spooky? October 13, Cortland County has the cure.
Call in sick and tell Lurch to pull the car around- the strange and unusual has taken over historic downtown Cortland. Spend the day shopping at an oddity & curiosity market, communing with the undead and sipping cocktails along a vintage catwalk. Here in Cortland, we don’t hide the peculiar, we flaunt it!
Follow our morbid map for a curious day out.
STOP NO. 1: CORTLAND CURIOSITY MARKET
Cortland County Visitors Center
42 Main Street, Cortland
11am-5pm
Additional Details
Do you love to fill your home with the unusual? One-of-a-kind vintage finds at deviously delicious sweets at treats? Then Cortland’s Curiosity Market is where you need to be Friday the 13th. From 11am-5pm shop the uncommon goods from 13 of Cortland’s most curious makers, creators and curators.
A spooky house isn’t a home without some macabre macrame and lush plants. Masulins Guarden weaves weirdly wonderful macrame peppered with spooky skulls perfect for Halloween. Fill your space with flora and fauna with a stop at From the Dirt Craftworks. They offer a lovely collection of bones for sale. This tiny taxidermy shop specializes in ethically sourced oddities, bones and pickled bits, perfect for your curiosity cabinet. Speaking of lovely dead things, Moon Moms Vintage will be selling her stunning pinned butterflies in spectacular Victorian frames alongside a tremendous collection of Victorian, Edwardian and ArtNevo brasswares and vintage kitsch. Perfect for the cottagecore enthusiast home.
The vintage selection goes beyond the shelf with one-of-a-kind clothing. Though Heart & Style‘s vintage corsets are so pretty, you just might want to put them in a frame. Crown City Curiosities will have a rack filled with fabulously retro wear perfect for the fashionista who feels they should have been born in another era. Adventurer’s Rest offers hand-printed art on her clothes as well as marvelously moebid bone jewelry and hand-pressed block prints.
No outfit is complete without a signature scent. The fine folks of Press Gurwitz Perfumerie will be on hand to help you craft your own unique fragrance. From woodsy candles to heavenly hand creams, your new scent will linger like a ghost in the room. Speaking of ghosts, seeking to pierce the veil this Halloween season? Vibes by Hannah is bringing everything you need to practice the divining arts, from craft candles and incents to gems and crystals. After all, it is the season of the witch.
If peeking through the veil isn’t quite enough, Artisan Elements will be offering an uncommon selection of haunted items. Too spooky for you? Don’t worry, their pendulum swings the other way, with a fantastic selection of spooky-cute items like pink skull tumblers and handmade Halloween decor.
Beacon Peak LLC has turned spooky-cute into an art, with her charming handmade jewelry featuring skeletons, moths, cats and coffee. A stop by their booth will put the finishing touch on your autumnal outfit. The coffee isn’t just for accessorizing at the Curiosity Market; Common Grounds is bringing a pop-up shop to the market featuring their signature cold foam ice coffee, fresh hot brew and iced tea. Now you can have your pumpkin spice and sip it, too!
Not a coffee drinker? Bomboozled will be offering hand-poured artisan cocoa bombs in a devilishly delicious array of flavors, from decadent peanut butter chocolate and pumpkin spice to Nutterbutter and classic dark chocolate.
Last but certainly not least is Cortland Curiosities. The Strange & Unusual History Trail now has its own line of macabre merch. Shop our cozy shirts and clever totes, proudly displaying your curious pride. Limited edition prints by local artist Jim Coon depicting some of our favorite curious tales will also be for sale, alongside everything you need to plan your next misadventure adventure.
STOP NO. 2: AFTER DARK PSYCHIC FAIR
1890 House Museum
37 Tompkins Street, Cortland
6-9pm ($10 admission)
Additional Details
Your shopping bags are brimming, and you’re happily hopped up on caffeine. It’s time to make a quick stop at a downtown eatery. Lucky for you, there are seven spectacular establishments to choose from, guaranteeing you will find the perfect place to quiet the rumbling in your tummy before the next stop on your misadventure. Hold on to your butts, it’s about to get spooky!
The eve before a lunar eclipse promises the veil will be thin at this after-dark event at 1890 House. Perfect timing for a tarot reading by Moonlight Ephanies or a spiritual healing session with Vibes by Hannah. Discover what mysteries your future holds with a palm reading from Excentric Pixie or a Clarity Tarot reading by The Wandering Gypsy (if you can find her). Leo in the Crystal Moon will be selling all sorts of psychic wares.
Perhaps, if you’re feeling especially brave, you might like to try your hand at a paranormal investigation on the creeky third floor of the historic Victorian mansion. Communicate with the spirits of the Wickwire mansion using a pendulum or dowsing rods. You never know who’s been awaiting you beyond the veil.
