The Metro Toronto Convention Centre was packed last month. The Oddities & Curiosities Expo took over the floor for its third consecutive Toronto stop, filling the hall with more than 200 vendors and thousands of attendees who came to browse original art, handcrafted jewelry, books, collectibles, fandoms, and yes, the taxidermy and preserved specimens the expo is known for.
For the vendors in the room, this was not just a fun weekend. It was a business decision. Independent artists and makers do not build a living from a single show. They build it from a calendar, stringing together events like the One of a Kind Show, the Toronto Halloween Show, local markets, and stops like this one across a year that never really stops moving. The Oddities and Curiosities Expo, now in its ninth year and hitting 40 cities across North America in 2026, has become one of the most important stops on that circuit. We sat down with co-founder Michelle Cozzaglio onsite for an interview.
The show launched in 2017 with 25 vendors in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 2026 tour hits 40 cities across North America with Australia already added to the rotation, drawing between 8,000 and 15,000 attendees at a single stop on a busy weekend. It has no corporate backing, no outside investors, and no silent partners. Michelle and her husband Tony, who co-founded the event together, are physically present at every show. This past weekend, Tony was running their hometown Tulsa stop while Michelle was in Toronto, two shows in two countries on the same weekend.
“I never could have predicted what this would become. We started with 25 vendors in Tulsa and now we have 200 plus vendors in cities across the US, Canada, and Australia. The growth has been incredible to witness, but honestly the most unexpected and meaningful part of all of it has been the community we have built along the way.”
Michelle and Tony grew up booking punk and hardcore events in Tulsa, and that background shaped everything that followed. “Finding punk as a kid gave me a community where I felt completely at home, and I still meet so many people who have not found that yet,” she said. “I remember seeing a girl with pink hair and tattoos and thinking, I want to know what she is into. That one moment opened up an entire world for me, and it shaped everything about how I think a welcoming space should feel. Not fitting in during high school never really affected me because I had already found my people. That is what I want the Oddities Expo to be for everyone who walks through the door, whether they are into music or not. A place where you feel completely like yourself.”
That philosophy extends directly into how the show is curated. Over 4,000 vendor applications came in from across North America for the 2026 tour, with Cozzaglio and her sister reviewing every single one themselves. “I wish I could include everyone, but with over 4,000 applications across all of North America for the 2026 tour, that simply is not possible,” she said. “What I am looking for is passion that is visible in everything they do, the way they present their work, the way they submitted their application, the way they show up on social media. I am a deeply passionate person about what we have built, and I need to feel that same energy from the people I invite in. Beyond that, I am always searching for someone who brings something genuinely different to the floor. Someone who makes the show better just by being there.”
Many of the expo’s vendors are deeply introverted artists who would rather be making things than selling them, and Cozzaglio has thought carefully about that tension. “What makes this community so special is that even our most introverted vendors, the artists who would rather be creating than selling, find that it works here,” she said. “The people who attend our shows are so genuinely excited to be in the room that the connection happens naturally. Everyone is like-minded, and that shared energy carries everything. It still surprises me how effortlessly it comes together, and honestly that is one of my favourite things about what we have built.”
The crowd that shows up has consistently surprised her. “When we started, I assumed our audience would look a lot like me,” she said. “Alternative people, people from that world. What actually happened was something I never anticipated. We attract families, older couples, kids, people who you would never expect to walk through the doors of an event called the Oddities and Curiosities Expo. Over the years it has genuinely become a place for anyone, and that is exactly what I always wanted it to be. I was simply thinking too small in the beginning. My own parents, who could not be further from my world, find something they love every single time they come. That tells you everything.”
Walk the floor at the MTCC and you see exactly what she means. Strollers alongside people in full gothic dress. Parents next to teenagers, both equally absorbed at the same vendor table. Space Wolf, the Cincinnati-based multidisciplinary artist Alex Davidson, was one of only five vendors who travel with the expo to every city on the tour. Lunatic and Tide artist Allison Orr filled her table with dark nature-inspired prints spanning ravens, moons, and antlered creatures. The Mallory Hart Art booth stopped people cold, with original oil paintings in ornate gold frames covering an entire wall. The Rustic Palace dealt in antique-framed taxidermy and preserved specimens. Beyond the vendor floor, the O&C Workshop space run by The Sleeping Sirens Art and Oddities offered hands-on classes throughout the weekend, from a full-day raccoon taxidermy class at $457 CAD to a sunset moth entomology and pinning workshop at $210 CAD, all using ethically sourced specimens and open to complete beginners.
Toronto holds a specific place in the expo’s history as its first ever international stop. “Toronto was our first international stop, and at the time we genuinely just wanted to see if it would work,” Cozzaglio said. “There were real concerns, the currency, whether Canadian audiences would connect with what we were doing, all the unknowns that come with crossing a border for the first time. It worked beyond what we expected. Now we also run shows in Australia, and I can manage that with my eyes closed. What keeps bringing me back to Toronto is the people. When I walk in and recognize attendees who have been coming since year one, and we actually stop and talk, that is what this is all about. Toronto has real potential to keep growing, and we are just getting started here.”
For Canadians who missed Toronto, the expo heads west this fall. The Vancouver stop runs October 10 and 11 at the Vancouver Convention Centre at 1055 Canada Place, and the two Canadian stops are not interchangeable. “The shows are genuinely different,” Cozzaglio said. “Vancouver has different vendors, entirely different performers, and a different vibe. All great, but different. Last year was our first time there, and it was a really great experience. The second year is when you start to grow. I have high hopes for it.” Her longer-term ambition is to add more Canadian cities to the schedule.
For a show operating at this scale, the most striking thing Cozzaglio said may be the simplest. “Tony and I built this because we genuinely care about it, and that has never changed,” she said. “We are not a corporation. We are not a sponsored event where the organizers are invisible. We are on the floor at every single show, talking to vendors, talking to attendees, building relationships that go back years. I believe that presence is the actual reason we have been successful. It keeps everything feeling real, and that matters deeply to our vendors and our community. That will always be how we operate, no matter how large the tour becomes.”
As for 2027: “Slowly taking over the world, as you can see by our schedule.”
The Oddities and Curiosities Expo returns to Canada this fall. The Vancouver stop runs October 10 and 11 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Advance tickets are $20. For the full 2026 tour schedule and class information, visit odditiesandcuriositiesexpo.com.
Dustin Fuhs is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 6ix Retail, Toronto’s premier source for retail and hospitality industry news. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider, Canada’s most-read retail trade publication, Dustin brings over two decades of expertise spanning retail, marketing, entertainment and hospitality sectors. His experience includes roles with industry giants such as The Walt Disney Company, The Hockey Hall of Fame, The Canadian Opera Company, Starbucks Canada and Blockbuster.
Recognized as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024, 2025 and 2026, Dustin delivers insider perspectives on Toronto’s evolving retail landscape, from emerging brands to established players reshaping the city’s commercial districts.