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Waltham’s Steampunk Festival returned this week after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. There was a big crowd, but not as many costumes as in years past. To be fair, it was a cold, blustery day, and some costume-wearers may have left early.
I tried to avoid the posed, rogue’s gallery effect that marred my earlier photo-reports on this annual event. Instead, I focused on spontaneous behavior of costumed participants. Alas, the cold gusts of wind prompted me to leave early, before I could turn my lens to the uncostumed crowd.
"What is Steampunk?" you may reasonably ask. It is a genre of science fiction themed on the steam-powered machinery of the 19th Century, and on the fashions of dress and architecture of that Victorian era. It could be described as the future as imagined by the denizens of that time, or as conceived by the fertile mind of its famous science fiction writer, Jules Verne.
Steampunk festivals such as this have appeared worldwide in recent years, as interest in this genre has grown. Enthusiasts have been known to make their own costumes, and travel long distances to attend a festival.
For more Waltham Steampunk photos, see: Steampunk III (2019), Steampunk II (2018) and Steampunk (2017).
