The extravagant, lauded and inimitable Menagerie Oddities Market™, whose credo is, “This Ain’t Yer Grannies Craft Fair™” returns to Amador County’s Preston Castle in Ione on Saturday, June 8, 2024, from 11 am to 6 pm.
Calling all seekers of the strange and unusual; Be amazed by wondrous and incomparable things in California’s Gold Country… Witness the bizarre, mystifying, and unusual as the most paranormal building on the west coast hosts the most immersive, innovative, full sensory, multi-interdimensional, experiential, daring, interesting, magnificent and highly curated oddities and curiosities market west of the Mississippi.
The Menagerie Oddities Market at Preston Castle drew 1,500 aficionados of odd and eccentric art and collectibles to its first-ever June 2023 soirée. 2,000-plus attendees are anticipated to attend this year. The first-ever Menagerie Oddities Market at Preston Castle has been recognized by the Preston Castle Foundation as the second most successful fundraiser next to the legacy Preston Castle Halloween Haunt held each autumn.
ART: On display will be 50 artisans, creators, and purveyors of strange and unusual craftings, baubles, trinkets, ornaments, novelties, knickknacks, ephemera, elegant jewelry, clothing, accessories, medical and scientific specimens, antiques, photography, home decor, taxidermy, works of fine art, and other collectible oddities and curiosities created from components, parts, pieces, bugs, bones, items and elements hand-made, foraged and found. The Menagerie Oddities Market™ draws a merry band of nomadic and dedicated, awesomely awe-inspiring, anomalously aberrant, distinctively divergent as well as idiosyncratic and individualistic misfit artists from near and as far away as New York, South Carolina, Portland, and Los Angeles who participate in 2024’s 14 annual fantastical themed Curiosities Shows, Residencies and Festival events.
MUSIC AND LIVE ENTERTAINMENT: General admission includes live entertainment, interactive presentations and poison exhibits by Dr. R. Snick, dazzling performances from Stilt Boy, the many faces of Gus. and the Renegade Circus, tarot card readings, face painting and carnival games for the kids, ice cream, food trucks, full bars, and music. Purchase an Oddities Show ticket, add a self-guided tour of the famous Preston Castle, and a butterfly or moth pinning workshop. ALL AGES admitted. Under 5 years of age get in FREE. ADA Accessible. Free Parking with roundtrip shuttle service. Outdoors: Rain or Shine.
AND IT’S ALL FOR A GOOD CAUSE: Never intended to house royalty, the Preston Castle is a Romanesque Revival style castle built in the late 1800’s as the administration building for the Preston School of Industry; a reform school for boys. Considered California’s only truly legitimate haunted castle, the Preston Castle Foundation’s vision is to restore the castle and provide a focal point and facilities for development in the Ione/Amador County Area. Shows like the Menagerie Oddities Market™, helps to raise money to continue renovations and promote historical, cultural, and educational opportunities to the surrounding communities. All proceeds from the castle tour tickets are donated back to the Preston Castle Foundation.