Skip to content
Answering Your Questions About Reactor: Right here.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Everything in one handy email.
When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

Blog

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

By

Published on January 10, 2013

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing
Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

2013 is the year to get ready for some pseudo-time-travelling, what-if wanderings, and speculative festivities of the dapper variety. I have a list of 39 steampunk and steam-friendly conventions and one-day events from around the world, gathered with help from Kevin Steil, the Airship Ambassador.

Since new steampunk cons spring out of the gearwork every so often, if I had missed yours, please drop a comment (and email me about featuring it for my monthly steampunk events roundup).

All descriptions taken from the convention website or Facebook page.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Her Royal Majesty’s Steampunk Symposium
January 11-13 2013
Long Beach, CA

“Greetings and Salutations from Buckingham Palace…”

Her Royal Highness, Queen Victoria, would like to invite all subjects of the Realm (Past, Present and Future) to a public Symposium of the latest Steam Inventions and Contraptions by some of the Finest Minds around the World. Food, Magic, Merriment, Musicians and The Queen’s Masquerade Ball promise Fun for All. The Gala Festivities will be held on the RMS Queen Mary on January 11-13, 2013. Not only do we have entertainment, gaming, exhibitions and haunted tours, but we are connecting the cogs with a Russian Submarine. Be sure to get your tickets soon and plan on starting the New Year right!

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

1st Annual City of London Steampunk Gala
January 26, 2013
Canada Southern Railway Station, St. Thomas, ON

A place for all “Steam-Punks” in London, Ontario & surrounding areas to come and share information, events, stories and ideas . . .

Help celebrate our 1st Anniversary in Style! There will be a fashion show hosted by Meg of Spyder Designs. Local craftspeople will be set up with all sorts of Steampunk items for sale. All topped off with a delicious buffet dinner and a grand dance. Sure to be a wonderful evening! Tickets are only $50 per person.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

TempleCon
Feb 1-3, 2013
Warwick, RI

TempleCon is a large, annual Retro-Futurism and hobby gaming convention held annually in Warwick, RI.

Explore the transhumanist future today at TempleCon, New England’s revolutionary Retro-Futurist Convention! TempleCon 2013 is your weekend portal into the war for control of the human genome, featuring a plethora of games, performances, workshops, stories, music, vendors, and seminars that explore Retro-Futurist genres such as Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Cyberpunk, and more, with this year’s special focus being Biopunk, that uniquely contemporary vision of enhanced evolution currently re-shaping multiple branches of Retro-Futurism with all its gene-bending glory.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention ListingAnachrocon
February 22-24, 2013
Atlanta, GA

A convention at which the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

AnachroCon, founded in 2009, is the premier place in the Southern United States for people to celebrate Historical Reenacting, Alternate History, Steampunk, Sciences, Horror, Etiquette and Indulgence, Fashion, Fabrication, Literature & Media, Costuming and socialize with people of like minds. We strive to bring you the best possible guests and experts in their respective fields so that you may leave the convention relaxed, educated, entertained and wanting more!

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention II
March 8-10, 2013
Tuscon, AZ

Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention is Arizona’s first Steampunk convention-festival.

Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention II is Arizona’s first and only steampunk convention immersed in a western-themed town. This is a revolutionary re-invention of the standard hotel-based convention. Our event is within Old Tucson, a famous movie studio and amusement park built in 1939. For this weekend only, Old Tucson is transforming into the world’s only western-style Steampunk Theme Park! Presented by the Arizona Steampunk Society (AZSPS).

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention ListingSteampunk at the Seaside
March 22-25, 2013
Camber Sands, England, UK

A new event for the Victorian Steampunk Society—the creation of a steampunk holiday camp!

We look forward to welcoming you to the first ever Steampunk Holiday Camp.

Already planned: The Major’s Soiree and music hall, Volley Boater Championship, Tea Duelling Championship, Day programme of talks and workshops, Mass game of Steampunks & Zombies, Traders in the Bazaar Eclectica.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

AnomalyCon
March 29-31, 2013
Denver, CO

Denver’s best Alternate History, Science Fiction, and Steampunk convention!

Guests include Gail Carriger, S. J. Chambers, David Boop, Carrie Vaughn, BB BlackDog, Professor Elemental, Pandora Celtica, White Collar Sideshow, and Trae Dorn.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Steampunk@Gettysburg
March 29-31, 2013
Gettysburg, PA

We are Pennsylvania’s 1st 3-Day Steampunk Convention!

Guests include Frenchy and the Punk, Hellblinki, The Clockwork Dolls, Scarring Party, Eli August & the Abandoned Buildings, Lord Monty Jacques III, Pyrophoric, and The Copper Claw.

opens in a new windowGearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention ListingSteampact
March 30-31, 2013
Rome, Italy

Steampact is a steampunk festival to be held on 30 and 31 March in Rome. There are many events planned that will be revealed on their Facebook page.

 

 

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

 

Florida Steampunk Exhibition East
April 2013
Daytona Beach, FL

Florida’s premiere steampunk convention

Have you ever dreamed of a world where airships ruled the skies, corsets, pocket watches, and top hats were proper adventuring attire for both men and women, and steam-powered contraptions were admired for both handcrafted beauty and functionality? We’ve made that world a reality. Join the Florida Steampunk Society and Full Steam Group in Daytona Beach!

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Victoria Steam Expo IV
April 2013
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Being a Celebration of Steampunk Art & Culture

Steampunk is the collision of history, technology, imagination, and attitude. Nineteenth-century sensibilities with impossible Jules-Verne-inspired technology. Teak-panelled computers, corsets and jetpacks, top hats and rayguns. For the third year in a row, Victoria, British Columbia, will host an art-happening of steampunk art, tech, fashion, music, architecture, and story.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Sakura Steampunk Celebration
April 7, 2013
Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

Join your fellow steampunks of Japan just in time for the cherry blossoms to bloom! More details to come.

opens in a new window
Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention ListingSteampunk Industrial Revolution

April 12-14, 2013
Nashua, NH

When the world ends in December 2012, Steampunk Industrial Revolution will be the ONLY place to find out how we can re-build in this post-apocalyptic wasteland! Who will lead us through the apocalypse? Guests include Psyche Corporation, Magpie Killjoy, Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine, and the Copper Claw.

 

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Steampunk Empire Symposium
April 26-28, 2013
Cincinnati, Ohio

The Crossroads of the Aether

The second annual Steampunk Empire Symposium will be held at the Atrium Hotel in Cincinnati, a city nicknamed the Queen City for its rich history with steamboats and the “Queens” of the river; a very appropriate place to host a weekend festival devoted to an age of steam that never was. Guests include Leanna Renee Hieber, John White, Ay-leen the Peacemaker, Lady Clankington, Frenchy and the Punk, Bethalynne Bajema, the Apparition Abolishers, and The Vagabonds.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Nova Albion
April 26-28, 2013
Santa Clara, CA

2013 theme is Steampunks in Space!

The time has come to explore new, uncharted lands, to seek your fortune and adventure in the vast expanses of our known and unknown universe… to trip the light fandango on the dusty red surface of Mars, join a safari in the swamps of Venus, hunt leviathan on Jupiter and race your aerial chariot around the wild rings of Saturn… the possibilities are limitless, as Nova Albion presents: STEAMPUNKS in SPACE! Guest of Honor are Gail Carriger and Thomas Willeford of Brute Force Leather.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention ListingAetherFest
Summer 2013 (TBA)
San Antonio, Texas

Texas’s First Steampunk Convention

ÆtherFest is Texas’ oldest three-day steampunk “unconventional people’s convention” and festival! It’s full of all the panels, workshops, musical events, performers, vendors and wonderful people from the Steampunk community you expect to find at any such convention in an exceedingly historic and immersive hotel environment with an intimate and casual atmosphere for all to enjoy. Currently running a fundraiser to support year three: help out Aetherfest.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

CostumeCon 31
May 17-20, 2013
Denver, CO

CostumeCon or Bust!

Costume-Con 31 is a 4-day weekend conference for everyone who designs, makes, wears and/or admires costumes. CC-31 will include a myriad of instructional workshops, panel discussions, displays, a dealers room, costume competitions, meet-ups, parties, and the broadest collection of creativity all focused on costuming that you have ever had the privilege to contact in one place. Nothing starts the creative juices flowing in new paths like the intensive exposure to fresh viewpoints, techniques and enthusiastic dialog.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Gaslight Gathering III
May 3-5, 2013
San Diego, CA

Traveling the Seven Seas in 2013.

Southern California’s First Steampunk and Victorian convention is planning to sail across the Seven Seas in its third year. Guests include Writer Guest of Honor Cherie Priest and more to come.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Aethercircus
May 4-5, 2013
Stade, Germany

The festival Aethercircus is in the historical city of Stade with its many cultural contributions to the world of experience creating an alternative past. There will be concerts of different music and performance groups from Europe and abroad and workshops, exhibitions and readings.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing
Logo for the Watch City Festival

The Watch City Festival 2013
May 11-12, 2013
Waltham, MA

This is a city-wide event that celebrated the imagination, history and ingenuity behind Steampunk. For one weekend the city of Waltham is transformed into an alternate reality “trapped in time” where the lines between science fiction and the industrial revolution were blurred to bring guests into an immersive experience like no other.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Steampunk World’s Fair
May 17-19, 2013
Piscataway, NJ

The Greatest Steampunk Festival in the World

When the World’s Fair started, there were many great Steampunk conventions, but few festivals. We were one of the first Steampunk festivals in the world. We remain one of very few festivals—and, perhaps, the best. There are over 25 musical acts, 16 vaudeville and cabaret groups, and a special guest line-up featuring authors and professional speakers of note. Check out our website for a continuously updated listing.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Up in the Aether
May 24-26, 2013
Detroit, MI

Up in the Aether: The convention is a three-day convention dedicated to everything steampunk. Running the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, including a COMPLETE day of programing all three days, it will take place in Detroit, MI. Already the schedule includes events such as the “Steampunk Rave,” a low tea, a High Tea, and much much more. In addition, we’re currently talking to some great bands, authors, and makers and the more support we get the better a convention we can put on.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing
 

Clockwork Alchemy
May 24-27, 2013
San Jose, CA

A glorious celebration of all things steampunk.

Ah, the Age of Steam! The splendor and science! The opulence and adventure! For one glorious weekend, the temporal rifts tying San Jose, California to a world that might have been and indeed, to alternate worlds beyond, shall be opened for a grand meeting of minds and hearts. Join the adventure of Clockwork Alchemy at the San Jose DoubleTree Hotel during Memorial Day Weekend.

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing
Brass Screw Confederacy’s Steampunk Hootenanny

June 7-9, 2013
Port Townsend, WA

Join us somewhere between 1891 and a time that yet may be for the Brass Screw Confederacy, a celebration of creative genius, weird science, good friends, and a big metal prop. A body of steampunks, Neo-Victorians, and sympathizers shall meet in the Victorian seaport of Port Townsend to celebrate humanity’s progress towards a more convivial world that embraces esoteric apparel, exotic equipment, and fantastical imaginations unconfined by trifles like physics and decorum.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Contemporal
June 28-30, 2013
Chapel Hill, NC

North Carolina’s steampunk convention returns for a second year! The convention story plot beings with the TRV ConTemporal’s navigator, Karma, being kidnapped. She was snatched off stage during the closing ceremonies of the ConTemporal Extravaganza in Port Raleigh by an automaton and band of villains sporting Stetsons and six-shooters. Join us in our journey to rescue her!

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Salt City Steamfest
July 26-28, 2013
Salt Lake City, UT

Welcome to our oasis! Here we celebrate the fantastic world of Steampunk!

Salt City Steamfest, a Clockwork Dimentia Production, is currently the only science fiction convention in Layton, Utah that celebrates the enriching world of Steampunk. This year the festival takes a turn for the better, including a verity of iconic members in the movement, from musical guests to notable authors. Adding to the overall atmosphere is the aesthetic of a Moroccan port city by the “salty lake”. Welcome to the Oasis dear friends! Adventure is out there, so what are you doing standing here?

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Portland GEAR Con
August 2013
Portland, OR

A steampunk celebration in Portland, Oregon

The Gaslight Explorers, Adventurers, & Romantics Convention (GEAR Con) is a celebration of Pacific Northwest steampunk and neo-Victorian creativity, taking place over three days in Portland, Oregon. Members of the public can register to meet fellow enthusiasts, attend presentations and workshops, meet authors and other steampunk community luminaries, shop for costumes and other goods, enjoy musical and variety performances, and much more.

SteamFest Australia
August 3-4, 2013
Bundamba Train Station, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia

The voyage has only just begun…Gather your finery and be ready to set sail!

Come on a journey through time and relive the wonders of that past bygone era, whether you love steampunk or you are a lonely pirate setting upon the seas of life Steamfest will have something to awaken your senses. Steamfest is Australia’s & New Zealand’s Expo / Festival / Con / Faire / Community all rolled up into one amazing location spread over a huge space allowing for learning, exploring, revelry, and excitement. Steamfest is your ultimate aphrodisiac of steamology, the key to it all is that Steamfest is powered by Steam enthusiasts, people who love and adore the styles and genres and with the added background knowledge of media to enhance every possibility available.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

The Alternate History track at Dragon*Con
August 30-September 2, 2013
Atlanta, GA

Join us in the world of Alternate History to explore the future of worlds that never were, but you wish could have been. Within our panels and programming, you will learn about the cogs and clockworks of steampunk, historic romance and alternate history fiction, retrofuturism, and any antique reality to explore with imagination you can think up. From the makers who bring wonders of a bygone age back to life before your eyes, to costumers who look to have stepped out of a Victorian Sci-Fi Penny Dreadful, to authors of tales spanning time, space, and all forms of alternate realities, this track has it all! If you can imagine a time when things were crafted with care and individuality, proper manners and etiquette was the norm, and wonder lay around every street corner or horizon, you will be at home with the explorers, inventors, artisans, and adventurers of the Alternate History Track.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention ListingSkybourne Presents: A Carnival Menagerie
September 13 -14, 2013
Dallas, TX

A 2-day event hosting 8 of the greatest steampunk bands along with circus and carnival performers from around the US, Circus Freaks, Bizarro, and Carnival Epsilon. We will also have 2 dances, one hosted by DJ Infamous and the other by DJ Scarlet Scarborough from Vegas. Confirmed musicians include Marquis of Vaudeville, Steam Powered Giraffe, and UnWoman and much more!

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Asylum
September 13-15, 2013
Lincoln, England, UK

The Most Splendid Steampunk Festival in the World!

Weekend at the Asylum is one of the largest and longest established steampunk festivals in the World. held in the historic city of Lincoln each September splendidly attired steampunks gather to socialise, promenade, shop and enjoy the events put on for their entertainment.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

ESC—European Steampunk Convention
September 28-29, 2013
Across Europe

The goal of EuroSteam is to create a steampunk event literally spanning the whole continent. For this reason we want to get in touch with steampunks from every part of Europe to organize the convention.

More info to come on their blog.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention ListingInternational Steampunk City at the Historic Speedwell
October 2013
Morristown, NJ

Historic Speedwell is the birthplace of the telegraph! It’s also a lovely park and an area full of historic buildings from the Age of Steam! We’ve got a fun, friendly weekend of good times, in a beautiful setting, for a token ticket cost which goes 100% towards helping Historic Speedwell. Many of our attractions are free or available for a suggested donation, as you take in our enchanting and fascinating city. We also have some events available for varying fees, to delight every sense, palate, and steam-pocketbook!

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Steamcon V
October 25-27, 2013
Seattle, WA

Around the World

Passports ready? Bags packed/ Pith helmets donned? The Let’s Explore! Steamcon will return next year with even more amazing adventures! We hope you will join us once again as we explore the steampunk world in all its glory! Featuring Artist Guest of Honor Brian Kesinger and more guests TBA.

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Teslacon IV
October 31-November 3 , 2013
Madison, WI

The Congress of Steam

TeslaCon is the founding convention of immersion-style Steampunk that has grabbed Steam fans in recent years. We are THE event that redefines what Steampunk immersion and interactivity have become. Lord Bobbins, the creator of “TC,” has been nicknamed the “Disney of Steampunk,” a name he attributes to the kind of programming and design that is created for the convention. Year four takes steampunk worldwide as Lord Bobbins opens up the Congress of Steam.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Emporium Vernesque
November 2013
Willemeen, Arnhem, The Netherlands

Steampunk Emporium Vernesque is the event of the Netherlands that focuses on bringing together fans of the Steampunk genre. It is a comprehensive program that offers music, shows, workshops, lectures and games.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Emerald City Steampunk Expo
November 2013
Wichita, Kansas

Welcome to Emerald City Steampunk….

Emerald City Steampunk Expo is a 3-day celebration of the Steampunk culture. There will be 3 days of concerts, gaming, demonstrations, comedy, oddities, cosplay, LARPing, stage shows and more. Emerald City was the Midwest’s first major Steampunk event and the largest Steampunk event in Kansas. Be sure to check the website for updates on what’s going on, to get your tickets, to book your room with the special Expo rate, enter contests and more. Also join our Facebook page for more updates.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza And Meet-Up
November 2013
Anderson, SC

Join us for a weekend of Steam. There will be academic panels for those of a scholarly nature and classes for those that are more fun oriented. There will be vendors and the Upstate Steampunk Ball. Tea Deuling is scheduled. There will be costume contests and the crowning of Mr. and Ms. Upstate Steampunk. Break out your best goggles, your spats, your hooped skirts, and your sense of humor and prepare to party like it’s 1899.

 

Gearing up for 2013: A Steampunk Convention Listing

OctopodiCon 2012
November 1-3, 2013
Oklahoma City, OK

Steaming up the Future

OctopodiCon offers the unique opportunity to work towards earning novelty degrees in Steampunk. For our sophomore year, we will have beginner classes, intermediate and advanced classes for an abbreviated collegiate experience. To take classes and get supplies to make things, one needs to pre-register, but anyone can audit the classes and take notes! There will be entertainment, room parties, a Masquerade, a charity auction, a Promenade, a Mercantile, a Tea Parlour, a Gears and Gizmos Dance, and all sorts of games from Baccarat and Curling to RPGs and more.


Ay-leen the Peacemaker already has several of these cons on her travel schedule. When not zipping across the country, she works at Tor.com and Tor Books, runs the multicultural steampunk blog Beyond Victoriana, pens academic things, and tweets.

About the Author

About Author Mobile

Ay-leen the Peacemaker

Author

Learn More About Ay-leen

See All Posts About

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
13 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments