The Steampunk World's Fair Returns May 13-15th

The Steampunk World's Fair (steampunkworldsfair.com) comes roaring back into the heart of Piscataway, New Jersey this May 13^th through 15^th as one of the most unique and memorable events on the East Coast celebrates its 7^th season. 

This year's event hosts a veritable cabal of international performers, a sea of vendors providing temptations for miles, a packed schedule guaranteed to both titillate and educate and a series of special events that will keep you smiling from ear to ear for months to come!

Still Recovering From The Steampunk World's Fair

I've done 4 days of New York Comic Con with added set up the day before and break down on Sunday, shooting something like 2 thousand pictures a day. I've done 5 days of San Diego Comic-Con with interviews at opposite ends of the massive convention center a half hour apart and parties into the night. I've done BEA, lugging home so many books the wheels on my suitcase fell apart half way through Penn Station, AnimeNext where my full eye black contacts tried to eat my head and Rock and Shock where your worst enemy is being talked into continually drinking til 5am...with a 9am wake up call. I have survived all of this...and yet 1 day at The Steampunk World's Fair has done me in. Either I'm getting old, or I'm finally doing this show correctly.

The Steampunk World's Fair May 15-17th

The Steampunk World's Fair  steampunkworldsfair.com  is firing up pistons and stoking the blast furnace in anticipation of a 6th year in Piscataway, New Jersey! Wondrous sights, sounds and adventure from an era of Scifi/Victorian super science await children of all ages this May 15th through 17th. Visitors may explore two hotels filled to overflowing (quite literally, as we use the courtyards too) with craftspeople, costumers, exotic teas, artists, writers and more. Around every corner you'll find live music, programming to entertain or spark your intellect, circus performers and our costumed guests, which are a spectacle all their own! Grab a costume and join the fun, or just come as you are and enjoy. We promise a full day of fun!

Steampunk World's Fair Roars Into Piscataway, NJ May 16-18th

Consider this your heads up! The sleepy little town of Piscataway, New Jersey plays host to an industrial revolution/scifi retrofit next weekend as the Steampunk World's Fair takes over two hotels and their surrounding courtyards...which are still barely enough space to contain all the fun!

As most of you are well rounded geeks, I'm sure you are aware of Steampunk as a style of costuming incorporating Victorian era dress with cogs and bronze and top hats with goggles mounted upon them, as well as those who choose to goth it up a bit, incorporating these retro-techy elements to garments that would make Bram Stoker's Dracula (the Gary Oldman version for our purposes) blush with pride. SO...you are pretty much guaranteed this spectacle as costumers from novice to super-uber-advanced parade past you in every hallway, but that's only scratching the surface of what this event has to offer.

Steampunk World's Fair 2013

Ah yes...a day among the dandies and mechanics and robo-armed outlaws and faeries and ...Batmans...and apes....and Mothers of Dragons and Hogwarts Professors.....so naturally, I went as Finn from Adventure Time...Steampunked up of course. Emi is a recovering Goth, so her wardrobe contains slinky little black mini skirts and epic hellraisery jackets, and that would do just fine, so we packed up our leather pouches and Jake shield and headed out for the far off land of Piscataway, New Jersey. Exotic, I know.

The show is a familiar one, so navigation wasn't so difficult. Let me break it down for you. Two Hotels (or Towers to make it fancier) encapsulate the Steampunk world with shenanigans spilling over into outside courtyards and some parking lot space. As you wander the halls, you'll find hotel rooms transformed into mini Shoppes (with an E!) selling everything from corsets to the essential goggles to sheriff's badges and little tiny top hats the ladies seem to love. Larger ballrooms swing open to hold more vendors with ray guns, taxidermied cryptozoology, jewelry and the recordings of any musical act on tap that weekend.

Steampunk World's Fair This Weekend!!

As the largest, ticketed Steampunk event in the world, Steampunk World’s Fair is bringing to life festivities and unforgettable adventures for all ages! This year's entertainment includes headlining musicians of no small reputation including Voltaire, Steam Powered Giraffe, Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys, and Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band! Dozens of other performers and entertainers pack our weekend long schedule spanning both the Radisson of Piscataway and the Embassy Suites Hotel in Piscataway, NJ. You'll see artists, acrobats, belly dancers, fire breathers, burlesque, ballroom dancing, (mostly) imaginary duels to the death, costume contests (actually there will probably be costumes everywhere you look), games, programming just for kids, comedy, karaoke and more.  In between both hotel venues we host a massive carnival tent providing outdoor attractions, activities, and extremely talented and innovative vendors distributing their Steampunk inspired jewelry, fashions, goods, and countless other curiosities!

Third Annual Steampunk World’s Fair

Hey Kids!! Want to go to an event that doesn't make you feel like you payed a bunch of money just to walk around in circles, glancing at the same action figures you can get at Toys R Us and avoiding the siren song of Lou Ferrigno as he beckons you to come buy his Hulk autographed 8x10's? Could you get down with a non-stop schedule of excellent musical acts, burlesque dancers, buskers, and individuals willing to cause themselves bodily harm for your amusement? Most importantly of all...DO YOU LOVE GOGGLES??!! Then the Steampunk World's Fair is the place for YOU!! May 18-20 in Piscataway, NJ. Mark your calendar. Here are the deets...

This May, thousands of Steampunks from around the globe will tune up their dirigibles, set their airships a’sail, and invent new transportation gadgets to descend on (of all places) New Jersey for the 3rd annual Steampunk World’s Fair. This year the festival will be bigger than ever, drawing more attendees and hosting more guests and performers than any other Steampunk event in the world.

The event’s main contributor is visionary and Steampunk World’s Fair creator, Jeff Mach. Mach has many years of experience as the chief organizer for over 100 events on the East Coast. As Steampunk World’s Fair approaches its third year, Mach is well aware of the challenges he and his crew face. “With the profusion of Steampunk events springing up throughout the world, we had to raise the bar for this year,” says Mach. “So we now occupy, not just two hotels, but much of the outdoor area in between. This has given us the capability to add new, interactive events unseen anywhere else.”






















One such event will be the Midway and Carnival Obscura, a raucous, outdoor festival showcasing family friendly acts by day and transforming into a dark carnivale by night. Fire performers, circus acts, sideshow spectacles, and many more entertainers will perform for revelers to feast their eyes on. This event is one of several components that will make 2012 Steampunk World’s Fair’s greatest year yet.

Steampunk World’s Fair will run May 18-20 in Piscataway, NJ. Tickets and VIP passes are on sale now; get yours before they sell out! Hit up Steampunkworldsfair.com for more info.

Steampunk World's Fair 2011

Waaaaay behind on getting the events up, so please excuse me. Now that summer is in full swing and the cons are..well..practically every weekend, I'll be dedicating more time to them. That said, let's talk about the Steampunk World's Fair!

Top hats. Top hats everywhere. ...and goggles. Soooo many goggles. This is what I expected of the local steampunk extravaganza and I was not disappointed, but there was more! This event boasts the largest gathering of people in costume I've ever seen. Among these dedicated ladies and gents, even those not in costume are welcomed by smiling faces around every corner. There is zero attitude at this show! Also equally important to mention, every vendor was pleasant, helpful and happy to chat. This makes the entire experience better thank 90% of the shows I've been to in my life.

The layout of this show (though I hear it was somewhat unintentional) saw the vendors in every nook and cranny of the building, allowing you to casually walk the hallways and peek in doors to see who had what. What was found was the expected in top hats of all shapes and sizes as well as home made weapons of low tech scifi destruction, as well as the unexpected hand made clothing, jewelry, crafts, authors and musicians. Speaking of performers, those were also around every corner! In the courtyard, you could listen to a band, watch dancers and see a man hammer a nail into his head all at the same time. Spots around the floor were designated for performers as well, so you could pass one just heading to an exit. On a grander scale, two stages played host to performers as well..some just singing and strutting their stuff and some accompanied by a hula hooping stripper. This is the "more bang for your buck" most other shows are lacking.

So in a day, I watched a full on brass band tear up some rock and roll, watched a dude run a spike through his face and met lots of awesome people who had to have been sweating up a storm in their 15 layers of steampunk trappings...except for steampunk Boba Fett who was apparently raptured and thus, left his gear in a lump in the lobby. We wish him well.

CLICK HERE for a heaping stack of images from the show! Special thanks to Jeff Mach and his crew who rolled with every punch and pulled off an excellent event.