Goatman Festival 2023

My trip started later than I expected, but I made it down to Louisville for the inaugural Goatman Festival this past weekend. I met up with the Bloat crew (Eric, Jaime, and Josh) at the festival the first night. We hung out for a bit, worked the Bloat Games table and then headed out when it started raining that night. Eric and Jaime were kind enough to let me crash out their place for the weekend. 

Before heading to the event on day two we did a few stops. They showed me Butcher Cabin Books, which is a horror book store in the Highlands (artsy) area in Louisville. I've been wanting to check it out since I saw my friend Dieter post about it a while back. It was actually the shop's 1 year anniversary.  They had a Barbie photo op and I regret not getting a picture, especially because I was in my Bloody Appalachia shirt. We then checked out a really cool oddities shop called Unorthodox. I love supporting small businesses and the weird, so I picked up some goodies at both.

We then picked up Josh (the other core member of the Bloat Games crew) and went to Louisville's biggest barcade, RecBar. We talked about upcoming projects (like Camp Blood which is currently on Kickstarter). Many of the items were pop culture themed. They even had item called the Demogorgonzola. I went with the Porky's Totchos and they were amazing. It took me three sittings to finish them.

Eric took me on a brief driving tour of the real world Jeffersontown. I got to the the inspiration for game locations like Jeffersontown High School, The Ridge apartments, the Pope Lick Trestle, and more.

We spent a majority of day 2 at the festival, hanging out and working the Bloat Games table. It was cold and windy, but we had a great time. I got to meet Holly, an fantastic local artist. She will be doing art for an upcoming DP&D project (not sure if I can say what one). I got a button and sticker from her.

I had a lot of cool interactions with the folks from at the festival. I think I do a pretty good job talking about Bloat Games books because I love them so much. One of my favorite interactions was with a young lady and her mom. They were both wearing Ice Nine Kills sweaters/hoodies and I got to geek out about my favorite band. They also told me that the leader singer, Spencer, was super cool with the young lady and a really nice guy. They mentioned another of my musical obsessions, Chris Motionless of Motionless in White, was the same way. I saw a hand-cast resin sculpture by stexe in the Legend of Pope Lick giftshop. Seemed like the perfect Pope Lick Monster mini to me.

We left the festival before it technically ended Saturday night but the weather got nasty. I spent a second night with Eric and Jaime, hung out with them for a bit on Sunday, and then made my way back to Zaneville. On the way I stopped just south of Cincy to see my buddy, Dave "Moon Mutants" Coppoletti. We had some good za and hung out for a few hours.

I had a fantastic weekend. I was definitely tired and sick of driving by the time I got home Sunday night, but it was all worth it. Eric and Jaime are the sweetest and it was cool to see Josh too. I plan on making it back down for NerdLouvia 23 and River City Con (which will be hosted by the folks that do CinCityCon). Honestly, I think my only regrets are not getting a pick of the Pope Lick Trestle during the day and not taking any pics with the Bloat Games crew. I'll have do that next time.