Fourth Annual Cortland Curiosities Market

Calling all spooky kids, witchy wanderers, and collectors of the curious, your season has arrived! The 4th Annual Cortland Curiosities Market returns on Saturday, October 17, 2026, from 11am- 5pm, at the historic and opulent Vault Grand Venue in downtown Cortland. For more info click here.

There are weekends for apple picking. There are weekends for pleasant drives through the countryside, respectable dinners and retiring at a sensible hour. And then there is Cortland Curiosities Weekend.

For one particularly peculiar weekend, October 16-18, Cortland County invites those with a taste for the strange, macabre, mysterious and wonderfully unexpected to follow their curiosity wherever it may lead. And on Saturday, all roads lead to The Vault.

Saturday, October 17 | 11AM-5PM | The Vault

Do not come expecting an ordinary Halloween market. The 2026 Cortland Curiosities Market gathers makers, creators and curators selling oddities, antiques, peculiar artwork, vintage treasures, botanical creations, bones, taxidermy, mysterious tomes and wonderfully unexpected objects beneath one historic roof for six glorious hours of shopping, sipping and general strangeness. And this year, the collection is epically curious.

For those who believe a home is simply not complete without a few objects that that rise eyebrows, you have come to the right place.

From the Dirt Craftworks returns with creations fashioned from bones and taxidermy, while Jon Majka Designs brings artwork decidedly drawn to the darker side. Dig through the eerie antiques and curious collectibles of The Third Knob Antiques, discover tarot inspired creations from Fata Morgana Collage, or add a little Halloween spirit to the cupboard with spooky pottery from Erron Hill Pottery.

Prefer your darkness adorable? Moonshadow Crafts crochets favorite villains and Halloween creatures into something suspiciously cuddly, while Area 51 arrives with geeky fandom goods and, for the first time, a live gothic role playing experience lurking upstairs in The Vault's loft.

Perhaps your tastes leans a little more... enchanted.

Crown City Curiosities brings vintage clothing and witchy goods, while Fancifuls by Donna conjures custom witch hats with plenty of whimsy. Press Gurwitz Perfumerie offers darkly romantic perfumes and body products that linger like a love spell.

Those who daydream about the Practical Magic Greenhouse might browse the other worldly and wonderous plants creations and macramé of Maslins Guarden, then channel their inner herbalist at Nipotina's herb bar, where visitors can create their own tea blends and simmer pots.

And should you wish to know what the future holds, Serendipitea Tarot will be offering live, private readings from 11AM-2PM, during the market.

Some peculiar things are best taken home between two covers. Browse dark tomes and curious reads selected by All My Friends Books, then stop by Cortland Curiosities for new trail merchandise inspired by the strange and forgotten history hiding throughout Cortland County.

And the guest list is not yet complete. More mysterious merchants will emerge from the shadows, bringing still more strange wares, curious creations and unexpected finds to the Market.

All this wandering can make a curious traveler terribly thirsty. Fortunately, for you refreshments of a rather spirited nature await.

Dragonfyre Distillery will be pouring free tastings throughout the Market, while The Vault keeps the festivities flowing with devilishly delicious cocktails, coffee concoctions and sweet treats.

Shop something strange. Sip something wicked. Then go back for the antique you have spent the last twenty minutes trying to convince yourself you do not need. Resistance, after all, is terribly overrated.

They say curiosity killed the cat. Lucky for you, you aren't a cat. So make a weekend of it. Strange history, haunted attractions and Halloween happenings are creeping onto the calendar throughout Cortland County.

First Tastes: The Cardiff Giant, A Problem Comedy
October 15 |  5:30PM | Center for the Arts

Begin with one of Central New York's most infamous hoaxes, brought to life through a theatrical reading paired with culinary tastings. Click here for tickets.

Macabre & Macramé
October 16 |  5PM | 1890 House Museum

Weave and enchanting black macramé plant hanger inside one of Cortland's grandest historic homes. Plant included. Ghosts not guaranteed. Click here for tickets

Museum After Hours
October 16 | 1890 House Museum 

Step inside after dark for stories from the Cortland Curiosities Trail, including the notorious Chester Wickwire. Click here for more info

Freak at the Peak
October 16 & 17 | Greek Peak Mountain Resort 

Ride the Mountain Coaster after dark while creatures lurk along the journey up the mountain. Click here for tickets. 

Flash Tattoo Pop-Up
October 17 | Sacred Art Tattoo & Piercing 

For one day only, Sacred Art's award-winning artists will welcome walk ins. Consider it a rare opportunity to take home a highly coveted permanent souvenir. For more info click here.

Victorian Wake
October 16 & 17 | 1890 House Museum 

Explore Victorian traditions surrounding death, mourning and the afterlife during New York State's Path Through History Weekend. For more info click here

Perhaps that is the trouble with curiosity. Suddenly, an afternoon at a market has become an entire fall weekend in Cortland County. So book the room. Leave a little space in the trunk for a few peculiar treasures and come curious. Stay for the strange.

Plan your Curiosities Weekend and keep following your curiosity at CortlandCuriosities.com.

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