Taxidermy animals, carcasses in jars, paintings of the bizarre and other eclectic arts lined the Colorado Convention Center. A spooky sight for some — an expression of weird for others.

But it wasn’t Halloween, despite the placement in October. It was the Oddities & Curiosities Expo.

The Oddities & Curiosities Expo kicked off its sixth-annual year in Denver on Saturday at the Colorado Convention Center’s Hall C. The expo featured a wide array of vendors — both local and national — displaying and selling a selection of odd items like preserved specimens, handcrafted jewelry and animal skulls.

For some it may seem like a nightmare. For creators Tony and Michelle Cozzaglio, it was a dream.

“It just started as my personal love for strange items, then it blossomed in to something so large. I couldn’t have imagined this growth,” Michelle Cozzaglio said.

The expo began in Tulsa, Oklahoma as a small, touring oddities convention — the first of its kind. Denver was the first city the expo toured to. Cozzaglio notes that the first year was just a few friends “trading cool stuff to see what happens.” 

There were hundreds of attendees and countless vendors filling the mass hall on Saturday. The small idea now a massive success.

“I guess there’s a bunch of weirdos like me out there,” Cozzaglio said.

The expo is set to hit four more cities in the United States this fall. It will then head to Australia for three cities there. 

Cozzaglio stated that seeing the event be so successful makes her emotional. “I really enjoy supporting small business and bringing together people that are unusual so they can meet or find their new favorite artists,” she said. “You’re not going to see these artists at a flea market. So, there needs to be somewhere they can go to.”

Though some may see Denver as a normal city, Cozzaglio notes that Denver can get weird and creepy. The Denver expo is always one of the biggest on the yearly tour, bringing in both tons of local artist vendors and attendees.

“It just seems like everyone here supports us and every year its more and more people — that’s why Denver is so special to me,” Cozzaglio said.