Steampunks set to take over Waltham Common next weekend

The Watch City Steampunk Festival will take place May 10 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with performers on two stages and activities across the Waltham Common, next to City Hall. 

From aerial circus performers to musicians, vendors and everything in between, the events are expected to draw several thousand attendees, including some from out of state.

“If you don’t know anything about steampunk just come on out and I’m sure you’ll find something you enjoy,” said Melissa Honig, the event’s lead organizer and a Waltham resident since 1990. “We just hope people come out and have a good time, and everyone does well enough that it’s worth putting on again.”

For the uninitiated, steampunk is a literary and artistic movement that combines Victorian-era history and fashion with modern technology and fantastical fiction. Science fiction author K.W. Jeter established the term in 1987 and described it as an alternative to high-tech, futuristic genre cyberpunk. Steampunk is more than just literary. It’s also an artistic and lifestyle movement rife with participants from numerous arts.

A good example, Honig said, is the 1999 “Wild Wild West” film featuring Will Smith. 

“What did the people of the Victorian era think the future would look like, and what would it be if that happened?” Honig said. “It’s a ‘what if.’ There’s a lot of creativity. It’s not like there’s one true way to do it. It’s fun costuming and prop-making … Come as you are — we welcome time travelers from any century.”

This free, outdoor festival began in 2010 under former Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation Director Elln Hagney as a museum fundraiser to battle the impact of river flood damage. Early iterations of the then two-day festival included events at the current site and indoor venues at both the Charles River Museum and the Waltham Watch Factory building, before Hagney left the museum and turned over the festival to the nonprofit Downtown Waltham Partnership.

After no festival in 2014 during the leadership changeover, it returned the following year as a one-day event. The COVID-19 pandemic squashed the 2020 festival. But in 2021 it was held  virtually.

The festival returned to in-person the next year. It now runs rain or shine. Festival-goers, many in costume, flock to Waltham for numerous entertainers, displays and vendors related to steampunk. 

Details on the schedule, parking, transportation and an event room block at a nearby hotel can be accessed on the festival’s website. 

Organizers work on the event beginning with an application process for vendors and performers in November. 

They remain in search of additional festival-day volunteers. 

Honig began volunteering at the festival in 2011, and in 2019 became the volunteer lead organizer. 

The festival team works to rotate new performers and vendors each year, including robot combat from Waltham-based Revolution Makerspace, which is back for year two, and new band Brown Paper Sax.

“Don’t feel like you have to dress up for the theme,” Honig said. “Just come and enjoy … and it’s great people watching.”