Have you attended a really unusual event?

We went to Wizard of Oz Festival in Indiana last year, where we met 3 of the “real” munchkins! And, this event lost LOTS of money so as of now, the annual event is canceled indefinitely.

I went to a Dusty Springfield convention about 5 years ago and visited her grave. Slightly morbid I know but I am so glad that I had the chance to put flowers on the grave of one of my idols. It’s the closest I will ever get to meeting her.

I photographed my friends participating in a pig wrestling competition. It started off with an auction of the teams (this was an actual auction…with a real auctioneer..weird), and then the little girls, little boys, women and men’s teams competed to see who could get the pig in the barrel fastest.

My friends got third place in the women’s division.

Note: This is not weird in Wyoming, but this Chicago native found it incredibly strange.

No
despite my sleaziness and suave behavior, I’m a boring guy :(

I went to the ordination of Essene priests, which took place at a holistic spiritual center focusing on raw foods.

It’s healthy and all together benefiial to step outside your sphere of comfort and do something new provided this activity doesn’t ditectly hurt anyone.

Going to a outdoor festival = good
Going to a dog fight = bad

About 20 years ago, I went to a gala opening of a newly remodeled theatre in a town about an hour from where I live. They did an evening like it would have been in 1925; live vaudeville acts, followed by a 1925 silent film, illustrated live by an organist. The film was “The Phantom of the Opera” with Lon Chaney. It wasn’t a “strange” event by any means, but that kind of historical re-creation is pretty rare. It’s the only time I’ve seen anything like it.

I also attended a log-rolling competition once. I’m the only person I know who has seen that live.

I attended a KKK rally last August here in Columbus.
I was working for the Obama campaign at the time, and my boss wanted to know what they were saying about Obama. What we were up against. The media wasn’t going to be there (for good reason), so I was assigned to go, listen, and take notes.
It was one of the most angering and frustrating experiences of my life.

@Gundark I wish I was there. The best film ever hands down
Was this in LA?

I attended a backyard wedding of a fairly successful record producer/engineer to a beautiful model. That in itself is not too unusual, at least not here in Los Angeles. What was unusual was the entertainment: an impromptu, unrehearsed gathering of several of the other guests, of the likes of Glenn Frey, J.D. Souther, Randy Meisner, etc.. They performed very well (to say the least). See ya….Gary/wtf

@Gundark reminded me of something I did my freshman or sophomore year of college (about 5 years ago). I went to a fundraiser for our local, very old theater. They still have the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ in the floor and are able to raise it for viewings. The fundraiser, accordingly, was a showing of the silent Phantom with Lon Chaney, accompanied by the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ. They had someone come in and play the soundtrack live. It was just amazing.

I also attended an exceedingly common event that I believe Qingu and I were somewhat uniquely prepared to view. The day that analog transmission of television ended, I made him sit with me at midnight and watch the signal disappear. We had an antenna on the television, but had never bothered with a converter box, so I figured we should watch it.

@teh_kvlt_liberal no, it was up in Washington (the state, not the District). It was pretty cool watching it on a big screen with the live music. Really a memorable evening.

We have had an annual sheep-herding contest day here. People bring their border collies from miles around; there are pens for the sheep and Marquis of Queensbury rules for resting times.

When I was in New Zealand, I went to a Sheep Shearing and Handling Competition.

Inside was a large agricultural center with a hug main stage. On the stage they had several competitors who were racing to shear their sheep faster and cleaner than the rest. Points were taken off for missing parts of the pelt or for cutting the sheep and bloodying the fur.

Outside, they had petting zoos and milking stations where you could feed and pet young sheep and goats. They also had sheep dog demonstrations where the dogs would go out and open up gates in fences and then bark in circles around the sheep to herd them into the gated area before pulling the gate closed with a rope and latching it shut.

[edit: aww, Gail just took mine, sort of : ) ]

One of the most unusual things I’ve attended was a witches’ celebration of Samhain (Hallowe’en), their New Year, with a ceremony, candles, singing, chanting, and some vigorous dancing as well as symbol-laden refreshments.

Not that unusual (esp. when you are Greek), but i was invited to attend a Greek wedding.
The christian-orthodox service, i remember, was taking ‘hours’, and it was ff-ing hot inside the church.
I liked the fact that the bride and groom were ‘attached’ by two white circles on their heads (there must be a name for that, i don’t know it..).
I was seriously shocked when, after the newly-weds walked some circles, one of the groom’s friends hit him with full force on his back.
The guy that did that was exactly the guy i would have expected something stupid from (think the missing link), but not that.
Soon everybody joined him though.
It was something common to do to grooms, it appeared.
I hit him too.

I watched Tibetan monks create sand art.

I’m about to attend a family reunion where we were asked to bring our own utensils. Right this second I think that’s the strangest thing in the world.

The week of Dubya’s 2nd inauguration, I was in DC and I went to a Billionaires For Bush gala… you were supposed to dress outlandishly fancy… look at the pictures… it was pretty crazy.

In Austin, my ex, her brother, his boyfriend and I all went to a Mommie Dearest Roast. We got to sip on Mimosas, eat a fabulous meal, and scream along with Faye with our complimentary wire hanger in hand (hitting them on our dinner tables). We were all encouraged to scream when they showed a close-up of Faye’s eyebrows, or yell “Bitch!” when Christina was being a brat. At intermission, out would pop drag queens who’d participate in the Joan Crawford lookalike contest. Great time.

Oooh, @jamielynn2328, so did I! And I heard Tibetan monks do that abnormally deep chanting and blow those giant horns.

@Jeruba I was lucky enough to have dinner with them at a local Thai restaurant, it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Back in the mid 90’s a friend took me to a leather shop in San Francisco that had a basement workroom enclosed by plexiglass. Behind the plexiglass were two leatherworkers in bondage gear and the one man gave a live performance of “fisting” the other man’s ass; I’d never seen that live before.

well it is San Francisco….

I’ve participated in Seders before..lots of fun, and delicious food! (I’m not Jewish, so it was unusual for me…and I was probably 6 or so.)

Also, my hometown had an Indian festival, where there was food, dancing, jewelry, henna, etc. Delicious food and chai…<drools> It was sort of weird to attend, because as much as it was advertised as a “cultural” festival, I was only one of a handful of “white” people.

Finally, the weirdest thing I’ve ever attended is UA Band Day. So many marching bands…crazy parents, crazy fans, crazy shows. (One year, 10+ groups did Pirates of the Caribbean music…the judges weren’t amused.)

Does the Ren Fest count??

@poofandmook That sounds so fun.

I went to Sturgis when I was 11. There were naked women everywhere!!! It was strange for me at the time.

Otherwise I am dull.

I participated in a Scottish themed Pagan wedding. I was a groomsman. There was even a handfasting in which they drew blood from each others palms. The wedding was in a old-timey two story pub. I wore a kilt. There was a kilt check earlier on to make sure the groomsmen were “regimental”. In hindsight, I’m not sure if that was part of the wedding.

On a full moon… a place that’s in the middle of the desert, on oasis of solar and geothermal- powered hot tubs with clean water, floating on the salty hot water amongst dozens of other comfortable strangers, staring at the moon as a single file line of others climbed a hill and walked into a pyramid containing a fire. Right near an abandoned train, which would look hauntingly empty if it weren’t for the lights from the inside emanating out. I go in the train car… and inside it was lit up with chandeliers and wall lamps, oil lamp style. It was a dining car. And each table was occupied by 3 or 4 or 5 people. And music was being played by guitarists and joints were being passed. I joined the revelry and got really, really high. I then wandered outside and found the hot-tub oasis…. four giant tubs, each containing dozens of people. “Come on in!” they said, knowing I was eyeing that beautiful hot water under the bright full moon. So i took my clothes off and jumped in, and it was salty enough that I floated when I tried. And I floated for hours. Other things occured too. Everything was the kind of thing I’d normally assume was a dream. It sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? But this was no dream, and I can’t wait to go back.

Sci-fi/fantasy conventions never fail to be unusual and very interesting.

High Power Rocketry in the middle of a Kansas field.