By PATRICK ADRIAN
[email protected]
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — This week the Steampunk Society of Vermont announced its first official fundraiser for the 2019 Steampunk Festival, which will take place on Sept. 21 and 22.
The group will hold a fundraiser on July 30 at the Copper Fox restaurant in Springfield to raise money for the two-day event, which returns after taking a one-year hiatus so organizers could replenish their energy.
The Copper Fox-hosted fundraiser will include a live performance from local musician Johnny O, a sneak peak at the society’s new merchandise and an evening of socializing and à la carte pub fare with Steampunk organizers.
This year’s festival theme is “The Kraken,” which is a mythical squid-like monster from Norse legend (and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise) that terrorizes passing sailors.
“It’s a good setup for a pirate theme,” said the society’s vice president John Landry. “Though steampunk lets a person interpret it many ways.”
Landry said that the festival’s primary function is to raise college scholarship funds for local students who plan to study within the STEAM fields: science, technology, engineering, art, and math. The society usually creates one scholarship between $300 to $500 per year, though Landry said that one year the society gave out two. The scholarship typically goes to a student in the Springfield school district.
“So the profits raised by the festival go toward student scholarships,” Landry said. “But first we need to fund the festival.”
Landry could not speak to the exact numbers but said the society does have some money in its fund already and is also acquiring local sponsors and partners.
This year’s festival will require permits for two sites, Landry said. In addition to the Hartness House, which has hosted the past festivals, Riverside Middle School will be the site for the food vendors and other festival tents.
In addition to permit costs the society will raise funds for tent rentals, sound equipment, waste removal service, security and shuttle bus service.
The society’s website said the festival will showcase steampunk vendors and artists; live music by Ryder Cooley and the Dust Bowl Fairies and other performers; a children’s program and scheduled crafts; and a “pirate-map” that guides attendees to various workshops and activities and rewards guests with raffle tickets for the number of activities attended.
And what, pray tell, is steampunk? The first part of the name refers to the steam-powered era, principally the latter half of the 19th century. The clothes and technology of the period are the starting point and then the punk part comes in. Steampunk costumes tend toward the gothic and sometimes grotesque. Steampunk technology imagines that the Victorians sat down to tea with some time travelers who encouraged them to really go for it in the areas of metallurgy, hydraulics, drive-train mechanics, optics, and fuel sources that were available but untapped.
Actual 19th and early 20th century science fiction like that of Jules Verne, Mary Shelley, and H.G. Welles served as an inspiration to modern writers starting in the 1970s and continuing to the present. Steampunk classics include Michael Moorcock’s 1971 “Warlord of the Air,” Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” books (1995-2000), and Alan Moore’s 1999-2007 comic book series “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” Even familiar characters have been adapted to the aesthetic as in the 1989 graphic novel “Gotham by Gaslight,” a steampunk treatment of Batman by Brian Augustyn and Michael Mignola.
Festival tickets are currently on sale through evenbrite.com. Tickets for people ages 16 and older are $50 and children ages five through 15 are $25. Attendees may also register a special absinthe tasting, an anise-flavored spirit made from botanicals, for an additional $30.
Landry said he joined the steampunk board this year as a volunteer opportunity. Landry, who runs Springfield radio station WCFR, saw this as a good partnership between his station and the community, and an opportunity to help in the town’s revitalization.
The festival fundraiser will take place at The Copper Fox on Tuesday, July 30 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. Price is admission is $12.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.