Photograph courtesy Cryptid Block Party
Cincinnatians love their cryptids. The city even has its own in the form of the Loveland Frogman. If you too can’t get enough of mythical creatures like the Mothman, Squonk, and Fresno Nightcrawlers, head to Pike Street in Covington on Saturday, October 4, for the fourth annual Cryptid Block Party.
From noon until 6 p.m., attendees of all ages will get to take part in hands-on activities and crafts, shop from more than 50 vendors and artists, enjoy food and drinks from local independent establishments, check out some live entertainment, party with the dancing cryptids from InBocca Performance, and more with fun surprises popping up all day. New for this year is the live music stage with sets from Moonbeau, The Muties, Alara, and Creep It Real. Another addition will be Curiosity Circus’s roving troupe of clowns and performers starring Calico Jones.
“We have people that come to the festival not just from Covington and Cincinnati, but we have people come from other states and countries,” says Cryptid Block Party co-founder Melissa Silberstang. “It’s a wide net.”
Despite the international appeal, Silberstang emphasizes the importance of keeping the spotlight on local creators and businesses. “We try to keep things as close to Covington as possible. We have lots of Cincinnati artists and it goes a bit further, but we’re proud to have mostly Covington and nearby.”
Silberstang and her co-founder Amanda Wood first had the idea for the Block Party four years ago as a way to combine two of their loves—art and cryptids.
“We’ve always been into fun and whimsical stuff. We like clowns, and weird stuff, and all the weird stores in Covington like Hierophany & Hedge and HAIL,” says Silberstang. “And Amanda is an illustrator. She draws all of the art that’s on social media and the website and she does the photo cut-outs and the costumes. There’s just so much different stuff that we liked and we wanted to put it all together.”
“We started our first year as a little block party in a parking lot with around 12 vendors. The reception was overwhelmingly positive and people reached out to ask how they can get involved. Almost every year, all of the vendors come back. We have over 50 just truly amazing artists.”
The Block Party also encourages guests to engage in their own artistic sides with custom costumes and official step-by-step instructions from Wood on how to create homemade papier-mâché masks. Engagement with the artists is also incentivized with a passport that can be stamped at every vendor station in exchange for a prize.
For those wannabe 21+ cryptozoologists who want to keep the fun going, there is an official afterparty starting at 6:30 p.m. at West Sixth Covington Haus. The dancing cryptids will make their way to the brewery for a low-key night with exclusive photo-ops and a costume contest.
The fourth annual Covington Cryptid Block Party goes from noon-6 p.m. on Saturday, October 4 on Pike Street between Washington and Madison.
Facebook Comments