The Gathering Of The Juggalos Is Now Missouri's Problem
By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 6, 2014 8:45PM
After seven years of exposing southern Illinois to face-painting, Faygo swilling, bad fake braids, extreme body modification, “barely there” clothing, unpaid vendors and mammoth ingestion of the cheapest drugs and alcohol imaginable, the Insane Clown Posse is taking their annual Gathering of their family (or, in FBI parlance, “gang”) of Juggalos across the border to Missouri next year.
The 2014 Gathering of the Juggalos moves from the Hogrock campground in Cave-in-Rock, Ill. to the CryBaby Campground in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, about 170 miles west of St. Louis. (or, as ICP called the location in an announcement, “Harlequin Park”). Tickets for the Aug. 6-9 event go on sale 9 p.m. Feb. 7—because Juggalos are like vampires and don’t wake up before sunset—at the Gathering’s website. (No word on whether bitcoin, Faygo, skunk weed or amputated body parts will be accepted as forms of payment.) ICP described the move as a step up.
Juggalos, this place is the SHIT! I’m serious. It’s got the same level of intimacy that we enjoyed at Hog Rock for all those years but this campground also has plenty of flavor that Hog Rock didn’t have, including CELL PHONE RECEPTION! NEARBY HOTELS! NEARBY STORES! ACTUAL FUCKING CIVILIZATION!
More than 10,000 people have attended Gatherings in recent years but the festival has been dogged by complaints about drug use, fighting, minor criminal activity and deaths from drug overdoses while taxing the police and ambulance resources of downstate Hardin County. In short, typical Juggalo behavior. Vendors working last year’s festival complained that Psycopathic Records, ICP’s label that organizes the Gathering, bounced checks and owed in excess of $300,000.
Already, law enforcement officials near Kaiser are pragmatically bracing for the onslaught of Hatchet Nation. Miller County Sheriff Bill Abbott noted he’s heard of the Juggalos’ behavior but said CryBaby Campground, home to a couple Hell’s Angels meetings in the past, will be fine as long as the Juggalos know their place.
"If you're looking for trouble, you'll find trouble. We don't want no trouble here whatsoever, and I'm sure they don't, either," Abbott said. "We want them to obey the laws and have a good time."