Art, queerness and autumn magic — that’s the experience promised by flyers for this month’s Goblin Market, a witchy art and vendor fair returning Sunday, Oct. 19, at Belvidere High School.
The Goblin Market, organized by Belvidere resident LisaBeth Klein since 2022, has grown from a small Halloween pop-up into a thrice-yearly event celebrating art, inclusion and community. The most recent summer market drew about 200 attendees and 90 vendors, some traveling from as far as Brooklyn.
This fall, however, the event has attracted a different kind of attention: intense local debate. Comments on social media, heated remarks at a recent Belvidere Town Council meeting and a planned protest have turned a community art fair into the latest flashpoint in a national culture war.
From Art Market to Controversy
After three years of relatively quiet events, the upcoming market drew criticism when its flyer included a line announcing: “Drag Story Hour @ 1 PM.”…