The Steampunk World’s Fair is not a con. My family enjoys attending sci-fi & fantasy conventions – people to meet, panels to attend, panels to give, hilarity to ensue. But Steampunk World’s Fair is a completely different experience.
This year’s fair promises to be an astonishing cavalcade of amusements. Take a gander at the performers engaged to entertain us – musicians, dance, sideshow, and theatric performers, and literary and academic guests. And oh my gears and garters, the shopping. You’ll wish you had a time-turner to see it all!
When Phineas and I attended the first Fair we quickly came to realize that we were at a music festival, with the most amazing shopping in the world, attended by thousands of fascinating, well-dressed people. Oh, and when you wander outside, there’s a circus.
Last time we were there, we took dancing lessons.
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Armed with our new ability to polk (as the Victorians would have said; we later folk have bunged up the language to the point that we now say do the polka), Phineas and I polked up a storm at many of the concerts we enjoyed the rest of the weekend.
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Humanwine provides awesome polking opportunities, but Professor Elemental is more of a grooving experience.
There were a few panels the first year. (I’m afraid I cannot speak to the second year. One of our friends thoughtlessly planned her wedding for the same weekend. Never again! If you want us at an event, do not plan it opposite Fair.) We attended a panel on cultural diversity and race issues in steampunk, facilitated by Ayleen the Peacemaker and a menacing fluffy panda. Discussion was focused and thoughtful, from the general crowd and steampunk luminaries Jake von Slatt, Jha Go, Lucretia Dearborn, Leanna Renee Heiber, and Emilie P. Bush.
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(And I ran into a dear friend I hadn’t seen since high school!)
Which brings us to the highlight of Fair for me – all the other people! So many interesting, amusing folks to talk to, so many ideas, so much information, fun, laughs, and fun! Whether or not beautifully dressed – you don’t have to dress up to go to Fair, just bring your brain and sense of humor.
There are, however, many beautifully dressed people. Interesting, intricate, clever, jaw-dropping outfits are everywhere, stopping traffic as festival-goers stop each other in the hall for photos every few feet.
I hope to see you at Fair! As ever, Phineas and I will host a salon in our chambers at the Embassy Suites hotel (one of two adjacent hotels hosting the ever-expanding attractions). We won’t know when we will be entertaining until we get there and read the schedule (sorry, but nothing is coming between me and a Frenchy & the Punk show), but if you will follow our facebook or twitter feed during the weekend, we will broadcast an invitation during our live cast of the event. See you there!
