Wild Wild West Steampunk Festival!

Date/Time
Date(s) - 08/03/2013 - 10/03/2013
10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Location
Old Tucson

Category(ies)

• News and Events

Wild Wild West Con II & Steampunk Festival
Friday, March 8 – Sunday, March10, 2013

Old Tucson and Voltage Entertainment present Wild Wild West Con II Steampunk Convention & Festival on Friday, March 8 thru Sunday, March 10, 2013 at Old Tucson!  Whether you’ve never heard of Steampunk or you’ve heard of it but never experienced it, you’re sure to be amazed and amused.  This is your chance to get a glimpse at this growing phenomenon where it belongs – in an Old West setting. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page for an overview of Steampunk.)

Steampunk, celebrated in fashion, music, art and literature, is one of the hottest things to hit this dusty old desert town in seventy years.  Hundreds of devotees will descend upon Old Tucson to celebrate all things Steampunk.  Much like a Renaissance Fair, many of the guests as well as convention staff members will be dressed in costumes.  Steampunk culture blends Victorian Age dress with a retro-futuristic vibe. Think Old West/Victorian dress meets inventions based on writings of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne with a sprinkle of the “The Wild Wild West.” Add cogs, gears, goggles, and tricked out guns and you get the idea.

The Con features more than 40 panels & workshops during all three days of the convention. Topics will range from “101″ classes for those new to Steampunk to “make and take” workshops to  advanced hands-on classes for those who want to expand their skills. Panels include interactive entertainment, exclusive video presentations, Meet & Greet panels with many of the artists and musicians, and more!  Even the little Steampunks will enjoy arts, crafts, and games as well as all the cool stuff already in place at Old Tucson.  More information about Steampunk and details about Con activities are available at http://www.wildwildwestcon.com/.

The League of S.T.E.A.M. will be taking over Old Tucson’s Courthouse with a museum of Steampunk Equipment, as well as hosting Seminars and regular demonstrations of Steampunk gear and monster-hunting techniques! Don’t miss out on all the excitement! There’s a report of some ghosts, ghouls and other dangerous creatures coming out at night, and you may just have an opportunity at WWWC2 to follow LOS around while they deal with these threats.

Old Tucson activities throughout the Festival include gunfights based on actual events that took place in 19th century Tucson and Living History Presentations on topics like History of the Stagecoach, the Mercantile and Sheriffs of the Old West. Guests also will enjoy a musical salute to life in a frontier town celebrating the cowboy and our local Mexican heritage, A Musical History of the Silver Screen recounting films made on these dusty street and guided film history tours.  Old Tucson offers dining choices like Big Jake’s BBQ featuring slow-smoked onsite beef, pork and chicken selections  and The Pony Express with hand-tossed pizza, sandwiches and salads.  Snacks and drinks also are available.  Shoppers will love our selection of clothing and gifts to please every taste.

Evening performances included in the all-access Aristocrat Pass and available at an extra charge include:

Friday night – The STEAM Show  with headliner Professor Elemental – a unique and award winning hip-hop artist with a healthy dollop of comedy and cabaret on the side.

Saturday night - Abney Park, widely considered the world’s most popular steampunk band. Expect clockwork guitars, belly dancers, bassists, Middle Eastern percussion, violin, and Tesla-powered keyboards blazing in a post-apocalyptic, swashbuckling, steampunk musical mayhem.

WWWC2 will benefit Kids Need to Read, a non-profit organization that works to create a culture of reading for children by providing inspiring books to underfunded schools, libraries, and literacy programs across the United States, especially those serving disadvantaged children.

 

Register for the full convention experience!    Wild Wild West Convention II  passes include:

• Aristocrat Three-day Full-Access Pass  ($235.00) Limited availability.  Hurry – they’re going FAST!
• Maverick  Two-day pass Adult ($59.50) and Child ($49.50).  Evening activities are not included.
• Explorer One-day pass Adult ($36.50) and Child ($29.50). (Evening activities are not included.)
• Limited availability Friday evening STEAM Show passes ($17.50)
• Limited availability Saturday evening Abney Park Concert passes $22.50)

 

Not sure you’re ready to join the steampunk ranks but want to check it out? Purchase an Old Tucson general admission ticket.  Although some activities require a Wild Wild West Con II pass, Old Tucson general admission guests will enjoy a fabulous atmosphere, selected entertainment, a vendor village featuring Steampunk merchandise, and hundreds of Steampunk conventioneers dressed for the occasion.

 

This Old Tucson Signature Event is the second in a series of six that is taking place this season at Old Tucson including:

March 16:  Reunion – 50 Years of Gunfighters
March 22-24:   Wild West Days
April 12-14:  Wild West Performing Arts Society Championships
April 27-28:  Cowboy Music Festival & Western Art Show
September 27:  Nightfall at Old Tucson
November 28:  Heritage & Harvest Festival

Old Tucson is Southern Arizona’s premier location and Hollywood’s most famous western movie location and has been immortalized in over 300 feature films and TV Westerns since 1939.  For more information about Old Tucson, Where the Spirit of the Old West Comes Alive, please visit our website at www.OldTucson.com or call us at 520-883-0100.  Old Tucson is located at 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona  85735

Steampunk Basics

For those not yet immersed in the phenomenon, following is a simplified overview culled from Steampunk 101 by G.D. Falksen:

What is Steampunk? In three short words, steampunk is Victorian science fiction. “Victorian” references a time period and an aesthetic: the industrialized 19th century. Historically, this period saw the development of many key aspects of the modern world, and steampunk uses this existing technology and structure to imagine an even more advanced 19th century, often complete with Victorian-inspired wonders like steam-powered aircraft and mechanical computers.

Where does the steam come in? Steampunk’s steam references more generally signify a world in which steam technology is both dominant and prolific. The changes in society brought on by steam-driven industrialization allowed for the unprecedented developments in sciences, society and goods that came to be associated with the Victorian era. Where does the punk come in? Ironically, it doesn’t.

What is the appeal of steampunk? One critical aspect of steampunk is the tremendous diversity of appeal it presents, which allows it to offer something for just about everyone. A genre as large as steampunk has a wide-ranging appeal.

* Some people are drawn to it from a love of the Victorian period.

* Others enjoy steampunk’s unique approach to technology: re-imagining modern capabilities with 19th century machines.

* Many people are drawn to it in light of its fashion aspects, which allow them to sample and even combine a range of clothing styles and accessories from across the 19th century world.

The genre possesses a life of its own that draws in fans from countless directions and backgrounds into a world where fashion is tailored to the individual, goods are made to last, and machinery is still regarded as a thing of visual majesty.