Steampunk day at Old Cowtown

Image from Old Cowtown steampunk day 2013

Press release
Visitors to Old Cowtown Museum are used to seeing the Victorian era portrayed true to form, but when Steampunk Day arrives on Saturday May 24, they will experience a re-imagined, more advanced 19th century straight out of a Jules Verne or H.G. Wells novel.

Simply put, Steampunk is Victorian science fiction that includes some influences from turn-of-the century Barnum & Bailey carnivals. During Steampunk Day, several hundreds of Steampunk fans will be strolling Cowtown’s streets dressed in traditional 19th century fashion accessorized with mechanical gadgets, goggles, gears and other pre-modern imaginative technology. The cornerstone of the Steampunk movement is taking modern inventions – the Internet, weaponry, clocks – and re-imagining how they would look had they been created with Victorian technology and materials.

Steampunk-inspired entertainment for the general public includes:

• Coventry Leather Demonstrations*
• ROSCOE – Magic & Mayhem
• Airship Vindus – an all-day display and 2 panel presentations with this filmmaking Airship group from Colombia, Missouri
• Airship Nox
• Wasteland Salvage Company
• Beard & Mustache Competition and Costume Awards
• Dr. Dillinger’s Dime Museum & Show
• Kids Steampunk Crafts
• Southern & New Orleans Telegraph Company*
•  “Fraternal Organizations of the Victorian Period”- Presentation with original artifacts*
• Airship Cannon*; Anti-Airship Gun; Rains- A- Lot Rainmaking Machine
• The Glorious Steampunk Pentathlon (featuring three Airship Companies)*
• Phrenology – Have Your Head Examined
• Blackheart Fencing Club
• Niamh Conneely – Steampunk Literature*
• Seven Steampunk Vendors*
• Many other new & exciting surprises*new for 2014

Steampunk Day has been a popular event at Cowtown since 2010. Cowtown had the distinction to be awarded Best Steampunk Expo by True West Magazine for 2012. They stated that “The best one we’ve seen devoted to the Wild West form of Steampunk is the expo at Old Cowtown in Wichita, Kansas. Normally such expos are held in some run-of-the-mill convention hall. But folks can really get into the spirit walking around Old Cowtown’s drovers camp, traders area and 1870s residential street.” It will be a family-friendly event that is unlike anything most people have ever experienced before.

The event, which is family-friendly, lasts from 10am to 5pm. Admission is $7.75 for adults, $6.50 for seniors, $6 for ages 12-17, $5.50 ages for 4-11, and free for ages 4 and under. Call 316-350-3323 for more information.