Early years (2000–2002) The Gathering of the Juggalos was created in 1999 when Rob Bruce organized an event for all
Juggalos, a concept long talked about by
Insane Clown Posse. The first Gathering took place in
Novi, Michigan at the
Novi Expo Center on July 2122, 2000, with roughly 2,000 fans in attendance. The festival featured concert performances, autograph sessions, seminars, wrestling hosted by
Juggalo Championsh*t Wrestling, tattooing, a haunted house, video games, contests, an ICP memorabilia museum and more. Juggalo Championsh*t Wrestling hosted several matches, with the main event pitting
Sabu against
Vampiro for the
JCW Heavyweight Championship.
Esham,
Ghoultown,
Mack 10,
Primer 55, and
Bubba Sparxxx were among the guest performers. Bubba Sparxxx was booed offstage and has since left a mark on future Gatherings, as acts sharing similar fates have been said to receive the "Bubba Sparxxx award." Esham announced at the event that he had signed with Psychopathic Records. The Sixth Joker's Card was unveiled in two separate seminars,
The Wraith: Shangri-La and ''
Hell's Pit'', given by ViolentJ. The second seminar, detailing Insane Clown Posse's entire rise to fame, was captured on video and released with
The Wraith: Shangri-La on DVD. A riot occurred after police tried to stop female attendees from showing their breasts. The police released
tear gas and
pepper balls into the surrounding crowd, causing mass confusion. Psychopathic Record employees Rob Bruce and Alex Abbiss negotiated with police, and the festival continued after airing out for 30 minutes. It was also the first time the festival went on for 24hours every day. Guest performers included
Bushwick Bill,
Dope, and
Killah Priest. In addition to the wrestling matches,
Mad Man Pondo hosted ''Mad Man Pondo's Wrestling School''. has become a staple performer of the festival since 2004 The fifth annual Gathering of the Juggalos returned to Garrettsville July 1518, with over 5,000 in attendance.
Ol' Dirty Bastard,
Kurupt,
Tech N9ne, and
Wolfpac were among those who performed.
Kurupt got booed off the stage by the attendees and retaliated by throwing a microphone into the audience.
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony also reunited for the first time in several months by making a surprise performance on opening night. Juggalo Championship Wrestling hosted matches every day, and featured several established wrestlers. The Gathering of the Juggalos returned to Garrettsville for a third time in 2005 on July 2124. Guest performers included
2 Live Crew,
Powerman 5000,
Manntis, and
Mini Kiss.
Charlie Murphy was also brought in as one of the stand-up comedians. The Gathering hosted the final round of the Underground Psychos contest, in which the winner,
Axe Murder Boyz, was signed to Psychopathic Records. Juggalo Championship Wrestling held the event "JCW vs.
TNA" which pitted JCW wrestlers against TNA wrestlers. Quarry Park's owner, Evan Kelley, kicked the festival off his grounds later that year. He stated, "Psychopathic Records broke some of the rules set down for the 2005 event, including blasting music all night long." He also explained that "Drugs, alcohol, nudity, profanity, and trash also became serious problems." performed at the festival in 2006 The seventh annual Gathering of the Juggalos was set to take place at the
Michigan International Speedway in
Brooklyn, Michigan, however, the board of Woodstock Township, Michigan denied the label the permits needed to hold the event. On April 18, Psychopathic Records announced that the Gathering would be held in
Pataskala, Ohio at
Frontier Ranch July 1316, 2006. The festival featured over 100 bands. Those playing at the main and second stages included
Drowning Pool,
Digital Underground,
Rehab,
Too $hort,
Intricate Unit, Bobaflex, and
Vile.
Cave-In-Rock (2007–2013) Cave-In-Rock, Illinois hosted the eighth Gathering of the Juggalos at Hogrock Campgrounds on August 912, 2007, with over 8,000 fans attending the four-day event. Like the previous year, over 100 bands were featured. Performances on the main and second stages included
Ying Yang Twins,
Necro,
Haystak,
Zug Izland,
Prozak,
Mushroomhead, and
Insane Poetry. Comedians included
Joey Gay.
Bloodymania, the culmination of Juggalo Championship Wrestling's web show,
SlamTV!, debuted at the event.
Anybody Killa was also announced to have signed back with Psychopathic Records. Cave-In-Rock also hosted the ninth Gathering of the Juggalos on August 710, 2008, which included guest performances by
Afroman,
Andrew W.K.,
Ice-T, and
Bizarre. Both
Bloodymania II and the debut of
Oddball Wrestling was presented by Juggalo Championship Wrestling. The Gathering was filmed by
Psychopathic Video for the documentary
A Family Underground, which was released on May 12, 2009. was the opener for the tenth Gathering of the Juggalos The tenth Gathering of the Juggalos August 69, 2009, had the largest attendance in Gathering history with over 20,000 people. Over 120 musical artists performed at the event, including
Ice Cube,
Gwar,
Coolio, and
Scarface. During their set, Insane Clown Posse debuted the songs "Juggalo Island" and "Bang! Pow! Boom!" from their then-upcoming album
Bang! Pow! Boom! Stand-up comedians included
Jimmie Walker and
Pauly Shore. The trailer for
Big Money Rustlas also premiered during the event, where it was screened twice. In honor of the
Western comedy film Big Money Rustlas being released at the following event, the eleventh Gathering of the Juggalos, August 12-15, 2010, featured a "Best in the West"
West Coast hip hop theme. Guest performances include
Naughty by Nature,
Spice 1,
Method Man & Redman,
Above the Law, and
Warren G. hosted Saturday night's main stage at the 2011 event The twelfth annual Gathering of the Juggalos August 1114, 2011, debuted the use of a celebrity host for each night's main stage with
Dustin Diamond, Jumpsteady,
Charlie Sheen, and
Flavor Flav. Guest acts included artists
Busta Rhymes,
Mystikal,
Juvenile,
Lil Jon,
George Clinton and
Parliament-Funkadelic,
Saliva,
Ice Cube,
Xzibit, and
Paris. All of the main stage performances, as well as the wrestling events
Bloodymania 5 and Legends & Icons, were broadcast live on
internet pay-per-view. The thirteenth annual gathering took place from August 812, 2012, at Cave-In-Rock and featured Insane Clown Posse,
Twiztid,
Psychopathic Rydas,
Dark Lotus,
Blaze Ya Dead Homie,
ABK, comedian
Ralphie May,
DJ Clay,
Mike E. Clark, and
Cold 187 AKA
Big Hutch. Some other guest artists and groups included
Tech N9ne,
The Pharcyde,
Soulfly,
Fear Factory,
Cheech & Chong,
Danny Brown,
Slaine,
¡Mayday! & the
Geto Boys. A volume of photographs by Daniel Cronin from the event has been published, showing predominantly the people attending the event, not the performers. The fourteenth annual gathering took place from August 711, 2013, at Cave-In-Rock. This was the final time the event was held at Cave-In-Rock.
Legend Valley Ohio, Oklahoma City, Springville and Crystal Forest (2014–present) In February 2014, it was announced that the Gathering would be moving from its home at Cave-in-Rock to a family Campground in
Kaiser, Missouri. However, several local citizens vigorously protested the Gathering being held in this location and the event had to be moved once more. It was reported by Insane Clown Posse themselves that locals had started a
petition to keep the Gathering out of their area and flooded the owners of the campground with angry phone calls. Finally, a self-professed Juggalo referred to as Steve (who had previously been to the Gathering himself) contacted Psychopathic Records and offered the 120-acre
Legend Valley as a place to host the event. Legend Valley (located in
Thornville, Ohio) was officially chosen as the Gathering's venue for 2014. In a statement by Psychopathic Records in the February 28, 2014 edition of the Hatchet Herald, it was said that "Mere hours after the news begin spreading that Kaiser, Missouri would not welcome the Juggalo Family, we began receiving phone calls and emails from interested land owners and promoters who wanted to help ensure that the Gathering of the Juggalos found a home. One of the calls we got was from a down-ass ninja named Steve who owns the Legend Valley. [...] Steve has actually been to the Gathering of the Juggalos before and is not buying into the media's portrayal of what the Gathering is because he has been there. He has expressed to us that he is super down to host the Gathering this year and has always found Juggalos to be cool ass people. He also believes in our fight alongside the ACLU to have Juggalos removed from the FBI gang list, which is still on the list as a "loosely organized hybrid gang" because their sorry ass case was thrown out of court in 2014. In other words, he has our backs and is the perfect ninja we needed to ensure an awesome, trouble-free Gathering this year." performed at the festival in 2014 Legend Valley, Ohio hosted the fifteenth annual Gathering of the Juggalos, which took place between July 23, 2014, and July 26, 2014. Advertised as "
Shangri-La on Earth", this Gathering has over 70 artists scheduled to perform, including the entire Psychopathic Records roster and several notable guests such as Twiztid, Blaze Ya Dead Homie,
Cypress Hill,
Cannibal Corpse,
Kottonmouth Kings,
Tech N9ne,
Da Mafia 6ix, and other artists. Also scheduled to perform are several comedians, including (most notably)
Gilbert Gottfried. Three special parties are planned for the gathering: Kuma's Psychopathic All-Star Party, DJClay's Horney Nuts and Big Butts Party, and the Frothy Murder Mix Foam Party. Alongside all these events will be
dance competitions, several contests, and Juggalo Championship Wrestling events (including JCW's Road to Bloodymania and Bloodymania 8), plus carnival rides, the annual ICP seminar, auctions, and more. In addition, it was announced via the Insane Clown Posse's
Twitter account that there was to be a new
Dark Lotus album slated for the 2014 Gathering. performed at the festival in 2016 It was announced at the Insane Clown Posse seminar at Legend Valley that the Gathering of the Juggalos would be held in Colorado in 2017. On April 11, Faygoluvers.net announced that GOTJ18 would be held in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at the Lost Lakes Amphitheater on July 2629, 2017. GOTJ19 was scheduled to return to Legend Valley on July 1821, 2018. On January 31, 2019, during the Juggalo show, it was announced that the 20th annual GOTJ would take place in Springville, Indiana at Lawrence County Recreational Park from July 31August 3, 2019. On January 6, 2020, ICP announced on social media that the 21st annual Gathering of the Juggalos would return to Garrettsville, Ohio at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park "Crystal Forest" for the first time in 15 years. The festival was scheduled to take place August 58, 2020. On April 22, 2020, however, the concert was canceled for the year due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. performed at the festival in 2021 The Gathering of the Juggalos returned in 2021 to Legend Valley, Ohio on August 19August 21. Legend Valley hosted the festival again in 2022, which took place on August 3August 6. ==Performers==