WILKES-BARRE — Just in time for Halloween, a spooky new event will be taking over the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts.
The first ever Bazaar of the Bizarre will bring horror, punk, tattoos and other oddities and curiosities to the Kirby Center on Sunday, Oct. 24.
The event was organized by Nick and Amy Frenchko, along with Josh Balz and Jeremy Pauley. According to the organizers, who spoke with the Weekender last week, this year’s event was actually supposed to be the second annual Bazaar of the Bizarre, but last year’s had to be canceled because of — well, you know.
Amy, owner and sales director at The Northeast Wine Company (and Weekender wine columnist), said she and her husband, Nick, tattoo artist at South Main Street Tattoo in Wilkes-Barre, wanted to create a yearly event that captured the eclectic, the spooky and the weird.
“We wanted to curate an event where we could bring really unique curiosities vendors,” she said.
According to her, the Frenchkos teamed up with Balz, owner of The Strange & Unusual Oddities Parlor in Kingston. It was Balz who introduced them to Pauley, who has experience running similar events. Pauley said the variety of items will be “very broad.”
“There will be taxidermy, human bones, horror photography,” he said. “Anything that’s bizarre, basically.”
Nick Frenchko said three artists from his tattoo shop will also be on hand, tattooing pre-designed flash pieces, along with two barbers from Loyalty Barber Shop who will be providing haircuts. Visitors will also be able to check out wines from Amy Frenchko’s wine business, available at the second mezzanine bar in the Kirby Center.
According to Balz, events like this one speak to the needs of the area, saying that there’s a desire for the creepy and the macabre.
“It’s something I think our area needs; I think our area is becoming more aware of the strange and unusual,” he said (referring to the concepts, rather than the shop).
“We’re giving people an experience to do things in Wilkes-Barre, especially after a huge pandemic,” he went on.
Balz thinks that the particular team assembled to organize the event is part of the secret sauce of why it works so well.
“We’re all passionate, caring people,” he said. “There’s nothing like being the weirdos.”
The Bazaar of the Bizarre runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 24. Tickets cost $15 to get in, and you can get them either at the door, or online through Eventbrite (https://bit.ly/39Nldrb).
