Gathering of American Gods Costume Party

I did the above sketch after the weekend. I am not saying it is any good (click for large view) but I just had to do it.

















My day Saturday started early, transporting Golden Tickets which would be given as souvenirs to each of the people who would win rides on the carousel by the end of the day. They had been signed by Neil and were also signed by Sue, the President of House on the Rock. I admit, I felt pretty special.
















Much of my day was spent at the Scavanger Hunt table. At first we didn't know what to expect as far as people participating in and completing the hunt. There seemed to be a lot of people interested, and someone posted on Facebook Friday night that they were stumped by some of the clues. I had one participant stop by early on Saturday to ask about the final clue, and felt bad I couldn't tell her much. I wondered if I should have given more hints - what if no one completed it??

I need not have been worried. Our first completed hunts started coming in at Noon. They had worked all night and planned out the lay of the land to find the best route to get all of their stamps. All in all we think 1/3 of the attendees completed the hunt, with about 200 being turned in fully completed. And - the girl who stopped by first thing to ask the questions? She was one of the winners (even without my help)!

















Neil was about. Here he is talking with Dawn of the Spring Green Chamber of Commerce about the raffle.

















The real party got started Saturday night, of course, as school buses began vomiting up costumed characters to participate in the contest. The Welcome Center soon filled with gods of all shapes and sizes.

















After grabbing a drink, many headed over to the tent, where the contest was taking place. The line of participants snaked off into the twilit night.















And on into the tent itself. Here you can see a "Mr. Wednesday" front and center. I thought he'd be shorter.















Some of the assorted crowd. There were about 200 people who entered the contest, but a lot of people were there just to gawk.
































Trooper that Neil is, he had each participant parade before him and tell who they were. Then he called a list of finalists forward. Finally, he had to decide on his 8 winners. Which he fudged and called 9 :-) I feel for him - it had to be one of the hardest calls.















And I WISH I had a list of the winners. I know, above, Morgana (who had an amazing leather mask and hand sewed feather cape), the Nameless God, Dr. Horrible, Anansi (dancing in front of the line - holding 2 tigers balls), and the Ms. Liberty on stilts all won.























White Buffalo Woman and the Nameless God.






















Cthulhu drinking a Spotted Cow.























Possibly the only Shadow I saw, tied to the World Tree.






















Bast.























I loved these two - these were the guys I had such a problem finding in my registration database! They dressed as the 'Bog brothers - Czernobog and Bielebog.


Then, it was on to the Carousel!


















The winners of the scavenger hunt were already there, the winners of the raffle soon to follow.

















The House on the Rock staff were there to assist people with boarding and disembarking. There were certain animals that could be ridden. The carousel was never made to be ridden (it only stops and starts once a day), and so a lot of prep was given to making sure it would survive the number of rides we wanted to give. The luck of the gods, and perhaps the spirit of Alex Jordan, were all there that night.
























The crowd watching the rides.























Other events included food, bands, tarot card readers and magicians.
















Little Red Wolf from Madison drew a crowd in the Organ Room.






































Finally, just because I wanted to, I've saved my favorite moment of the night for last. I was in charge of collecting about 1/2 of the raffle winners and had the chance to talk with them before escorting them to the crazy loud and crowded carousel room (that's actually when I took most of the stand alone costume pics above). The guy below had just gotten married and was on his honeymoon. I got a short little video of him just as he rides past his wife and blows her a kiss (she's video taping him.) Ah me.






















On my drive home at nigh about 2am, I spied the last quarter harvest moon rising. Good night!