Nate “Igor” Smith
While walking around the 22nd Gathering of the Juggalos in Thornville, Ohio, a juggalo was overheard saying, “The best part of the Gathering is the gathering”—a statement that sums up the four-day Insane Clown Posse-hosted music festival pretty damn perfectly.
The Gathering is a music festival, but more than anything it’s a way for juggalos to come together, forget about everything else in their lives, and just revel in each other’s company. COVID, inflation, abortion bans, gas prices, war in Europe, kids at school picking on you… none of that matters for four days of the year during the Gathering of the Juggalos, which ran from Aug. 3-7.
On the last night of the festival, just minutes before the closing set from hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse, we ran into Mandy aka TripleSix, a juggalette who has been to 20 Gatherings, and asked her why she keeps coming back: “I look forward to this all year long. This is my escape from the real world. To come and be with all the weirdest, most wonderful motherfuckers that walk the Earth.”