Past News and Updates
Here are our past updates…
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Just a little note to say “hello”! And to let you know that applications for Vendors and Performers will be opening around August 15th! That’s in TWO WEEKS! Yippee!
The Vendor pool will remain open for 30 days; Vendors shall be informed they were accepted within 60 days of the closing of the pool. The Vendor pool will not be a “first-come first-serve”, so don’t worry if you are towards the end of applications; you will still have a chance! Once the pool is closed, the wait list will be open. All remaining vendors will be added to the wait list.
The Performer pool will remain open until the end of the year. All performers will be accepted between September 1st and December 31st, 2010. The Performer pool, like for Vendors, will not be on a “first-come first-serve” basis. So even if it’s December 31st, drop us a line! Once the pool is closed, the wait list will be open and all remaining performers added to it!
Keep an eye out for news as we announce our hotel location, and pre-registration opening!
(Whisper – 08/01/10)
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Hey everyone! We just wanted to let you all know that, with your help, The Steampunk World’s Fair 2010 had a warm-body count of 3000 folks! That means that, over the course of 3 full days of activities and events, 3000 people wandered the halls, vendor rooms, event spaces, and courtyard of the Radisson and the grand ballroom of the Embassy Suites.
With over 350 performers, 250 vendors and assistants, 75 press folks wandering around interviewing and taking pictures of you lovely folks, a wonderful staff and dedicated group of volunteers, this year’s SPWF was an amazing experience for all of us. We greatly look forward to upping the ante for next year as well. 
In the coming weeks, we shall announce plans for opening the vendor application process, and opening our performer pool in August! Vendors remember: we sold out of spots in slightly more than 2 months last year. We expect spaces to fill just as fast this time around!
(06/07/10)
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Special Announcement to the steampunk community!
We had a number of people believe that the theme announced for Steampunk World’s Fair would be restrictive. This was never our intention. Quite the opposite; we wanted to have as many people included in SPWF as possible. We thought the theme would nudge people to join us in bringing in a wide variety of retro-futuristic anachronisms. You all have told us differently. The steampunk community “does not want any nudging, prodding, pushing or guiding.” We hear you loud and clear.
And we’re going to listen. As of this point, SPWF will be returning to what it started as: an event for people to bring their kind of steampunk- and their ideas- to bear. We will make the space and you can bring whatever you want! This is not to say there won’t be a speak-easy next year. What it does mean is that if you aren’t into a speak-easy, you can go to the High Tea, or The Big Brass Ball (it’s free after all!), or learn how a steam engine actually works. We don’t want to tell you what steampunk is or isn’t. You tell us. Bring whatever you want to the table and we will have a space for it, without trying to limit your imagination or put you in a box.
After all, isn’t using our imaginations in new and extraordinary ways the reason we all do this?
All the best,
Cap, Jeff, Josh and Whisper
The Steampunk World’s Fair Partners
(5/17/10)
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We Have Some Important Announcements About Tickets And The Event – Please see below!
Tickets are no longer for sale online. At the door, tickets will be $50 for the whole weekend or $30 per day.
We now have a PDF of the Schedule
We will now be donating eight fifty-per-cent scholarships to SPARC, the nonprofit summer program for gifted and creative kids, which is running for the first time this summer. We hope to be able to donate more! If you have kids of about high-school age, you should look into SPARC for them. Come meet SPARC people at their table at the Fair.
Finally – friends, please know in advance that it will be a bit crowded, and our staff is overwhelmed. We feel we can still show you some of the most amazing fun it’s possible to have…or we wouldn’t still be running! But please come to us, aware that this is our first year, and we’re much bigger than we planned, and that means that we’re likely to run into some hitches along the way. Please come anyway! We really want you to come out and enjoy what we have planned!
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The Steampunk World’s Fair will take place on May 14th-16th 2010, at the Radisson of Piscataway, in the lovely state of New Jersey; we have some events starting at one on Friday in the Embassy Suites; opening ceremonies are at three. Please visit us often as we finalize our vast army of entertainments and amusements for you!
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Update, May 10, 2009: Do you want to experience as much World’s Fair-iness as possible? Are you checking into your hotel room on Thursday night? Then you should be aware that registration will be open starting around 6:00 PM on Thursday in the Radisson for those who have pre-registered! Get your badge early to avoid the lines on Friday!
Update, May 7, 2009: Both of our hotel blocks are sold out! If you still need to make a reservation, visit the hotel page for other nearby hotels you might try. The location and travel page is updated with information about where you can find food while at the fair. And remember, Sunday is your last day to get tickets at the discounted rate!
In an effort to help out the Outlanders, the Penny Dreadfuls of the S.S. Icarus have graciously offered to host a fundraising and material-collecting event on Friday night! Head over to the events page to read more!
Update, May 4, 2010: Come see Absinthe Heroes! It’s a rock opera written by Fair partner/Wicked Faire producer Jeff Mach, with music composed by Psyche Corporation.
Update, May 3, 2010: Given the number of pre-registrations, we’re making a number of plans to try to make sure we have room for everyone. Some of these will be outdoors; bring umbrellas if it rains! We are also raising at-door ticket prices…and making a donation to SPARC, a nonprofit summer program for gifted kids.
Update, April 30, 2010: Jeff Mach has written an open letter to the Steampunk World’s Fair community, seeking your help! You should read it, here. Also, the FAQ has been updated with each day’s hours of programming!
Berit New York, one of our vendors and a fashion designer featured in the Dames and Dandies Fashion Show, is trying to go to London Fashion Week and needs your help!
And a message from Professor Elemental:
“I am beside myself with excitement to making my debut in the Americas at the Steampunk Worlds Fair! Along with hosting the finest tea party since Alice fell down the rabbit hole, I shall be unveiling my new album for the first time on stage, casting a critical robotic eye over the best that mad science has to offer in the Mad Science Competition and performing a somewhat disturbing exotic dance. There will be adventure! There will be badgermingos! And there will be tea for all, in what I promise to be an unforgettable explosion of joy!”
Update, April 29, 2010: Ticket pre-registration will end on May 9th, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST! Buy your tickets TODAY to get the discounted price! Tickets sold at the door will rather more.
Update April 24, 2010: SO MANY MORE EVENTS ANNOUNCED! Over on the Events page. Now with discussions, demos, workshops, competitions, contests, games, and more!
Update April 23, 2010: Looking for ride shares, crash space, to volunteer, or to talk about what’s going on at SPWF? Then check out our Volunteer group, and our newly opened forums!
Are you on Facebook? If you are, and you haven’t already done so, you should RSVP to our event!
Jeff Mach, one of our intrepid leaders, was recently interviewed by Dieselpunks.org regarding this very event! You should check it out!
Have you seen the newest Steampunk World’s Fair promo video, starring Brian Viglione of Dresden Doll fame and Cap of S.S. Icarus (and Steampunk World’s Fair partner!)? Take a gander at our Tell the World page for the rest of the videos, and then mention us to a few bosom compatriots.
If you’re near the land of Jersey and wish to attend one of the East Coast’s first monthly Steampunk dance nights, visit “The Big Brass Ball“, the first Tuesday of every month, at the Radisson.
We have a short fiction contest for you! Check it out!
There is just so much going on that we occasionally have to rearrange our front page to make room for the new and exciting!
April 22, 2010: Be forewarned, advance ticket sales end early May! And we may need to cap registration at 3000 people, so GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! In other exciting news, Brian Viglione of the Dresden Dolls will be performing at the Steampunk World’s Fair! And guess what else, folks? His birthday just happens to fall that weekend, so we’re celebrating by throwing him a big birthday bash on Saturday. And everyone’s invited!
April 13th, 2010: We regret to inform you that Dinner and Tea tickets are sold out! Also, as of April 14, advance registration tickets no longer come with $5 gift certificates. They are, however, still cheaper than they will be at the door, so order your tickets today!
April 6th, 2010: It’s official – we had just too many entertainments to fit within one hotel. We have booked a second hotel, the lovely Embassy Suites of Piscataway, and will be offering events in its Grand Ballroom. As a congratulatory gift, our brother event, the Wicked Faire, has sponsored a performance by our longtime friend, the incomparable Voltaire, Clown Prince of the Gypsy Cabaret! We’ll also be honored by the appearance of those greatest of Steampunk music enthusiasts, SepiaChord!
The Embassy Suites is offering its beautiful Suites (not just hotel rooms!) for $99 – which is simply an amazing price. Stay at the Embassy Suites, be near a Main Stage, and have a wonderful time! Their number is 732-980-0500; we do expect this to sell out, as the Radisson did, very quickly!
February 1, 2010: Oh, so you want events, huh? Then check out the Events page for new announcements!
January 31, 2010: The Performers page has grown again… We were pretty sure we’d reach the legal awesome limit on this event, but somehow there’s always more!
January 11, 2010: The Performers page has been updated!
December 23, 2009: Great googly moogly, you mean to say there’s even more performers?! Diviners, dream-weaver songstresses, famed leatherworkers, and even steampunk architects are now coming your way!