Shandra Gitana and Allysin Pendleton hold a Steampunk wedding with a Dalek constructed by James Benini of Tolland. (Silk City Steampunk)
The smoke-filled, top-hatted, rarefied realm of Steampunk — a magical world which links the early machine age of the late 19th century and the Victorian fashions of that time with future technological advances — is still chugging along like a steam locomotive in Connecticut, with festivals, fairs and monthly events for enthusiasts.
Next to New York (whose Grand Central Station and prototypical skyscrapers figure in many a Steampunk tale), Connecticut may in fact be the consummate American Steampunk state.
One of the state’s most famous residents of the late 1800s, Mark Twain, wrote several stories with Steampunk elements, including the travel adventures “Tom Sawyer Abroad,” “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven” and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” Twain also invested in new technology like typewriters and printing machines, and palled around with Steampunk icon Nicola Tesla.
Now Connecticut is home to a slew of Steampunk novelists such as Renée Fleury, Jennifer Eifrig, Gevera Bert Piedmont, A.L. Davroe, Jessica Lucci, Liz Delton and Elizabeth Chatsworth and nonfiction authors such the team of Joe “Dr. Grymm” Marsocci and Allison DeBlasio (”1000 Steampunk Creations”).
In a Silk City Steampunk stroll in Manchester in 2020, the group stops to pose on the steps of the Elder Care Consulting building. (Steve Smith / Courant Community)
Many Connecticut cities still use the nicknames they got from factories that once defined them: Brass City (Waterbury), Hat City (Danbury), Copper City (Ansonia) and Thread City (Willimantic).
The Silk City — Manchester, which in the mid-19th century boasted the world’s largest silk mill — has become a hotbed of present-day Steampunk activity. Manchester Mayor Jay Moran proclaimed Sept. 7, 2017 to be “Steampunk Day in Manchester.”
The definition of Steampunk in the proclamation reads: “Steampunk is imagining a world that remained in the Victorian Age, still powered by steam but with a dash of science fiction and wonder. Think Jules Verne, Charles Dickens and H.G. Wells, throw in Doctor Who with the technological what ifs of Nikola Tesla and the zoological improbabilities of H.P. Lovecraft, topped with a steamy cup of tea — that is Steampunk.”
David Carlson, who helped created the sideburned, cogs-and-gears milieu that led to that proclamation, gives a similar definition, calling Steampunk “a mixture of a Victorian aesthetic with elements of science fiction. He notes that the TV series “Doctor Who” (whose various stars have often adopted comfortable tweeds and Steampunk accessories and regularly time travel to the Victorian era) is widely embraced by the Steampunk movement.
Carlson is Manchester’s main proponent of Steampunk. He’s been doing Steampunk events in the area “since before I knew it had a name. We were doing Victorian Christmas card shoots.” He came to realize that the Steampunk movement encompassed “everything I’d been interested in for my whole life.” After attending conventions in Connecticut, Rhode Island and elsewhere, “I found people, started my own group and created the type of events I wanted to go to.” Besides other enthusiasts, he connected with antique stores, costume shop, museums and other businesses that support the Steampunk sensibility.
Local mermaid Alexandra Gillis at a Silk City Steampunk event. (Silk City Steampunk)
Now, Carlson says, “Manchester is internationally known as a Steampunk city.” He established that reputation by holding large annual events like the Silk City Steampunk Festival t (the latest of which was held in June) and the “Stupid Cupid Steampunk Weekend Extravaganza” (which will next be held Feb. 3-5 at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Cromwell).
Some of the Silk City Steampunk group’s bigger festivals have been held at Manchester’s Cheney Hall, an ideal location since it was built in the 1860s as a recreation hall for workers in the Cheney Brothers’ silk mills.
But Carlson also makes sure the recognition is constant, with monthly events branded “12 Months of Steampunk.” “With me,” Carlson says, if you miss an event, you don’t have to wait a year. You just wait 30 days.”
Jim and Tanya Evans from a past Steampunking in the Park event. The next one is Aug. 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Manchester’s Wickham Park. (Silk City Steampunk)
The next monthly gathering is a “Steampunking in the Park,” Aug. 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Manchester’s Wickham Park. There will be a potluck meal and a photo shoot. Attendees are invited to “come dressed in Steampunk, Goth, Whovian or Muggle.” (Yes, Steampunk is claiming some Harry Potter references as well.) Carlson says he expects to greet pirates, stately gentlemen and “land-dwelling mermaids.”
The monthly events can take the form of “strolls, happenings, photo shoots, maybe a teahouse crawl,” Carlson said. “Sometimes we get 20 people, sometimes 200.”
On Aug. 27 in and around Federal Hill Green in Bristol, the Steampunk contingent is strolling around Victorian neighborhoods in that town (they really like to stroll) then holding a discussion of Bristol’s role in the Industrial Revolution.
On Sept. 16, a new festival, the High Iron Steampunk Festival, will be held in Essex, the town where tourists flock to see a steamboat and a steam train.
Upcoming “12 Months of Steampunk” events include a stroll on Manchester’s Cheney Rail Trail in September and a screening of the silent film classic “The Phantom of the Opera” starring Lon Chaney in October.
Many Connecticut-based Steampunk events are listed in the international online magazine “The Steampunk Explorer.” Carlson himself hosts three Facebook pages dedicated to Connecticut Steampunk: facebook.com/oddballnewtstuff, facebook.com/groups/silkcitysteampunk and facebook.com/oddballnewtproductions.
“Steampunking in the Park” happens Aug. 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Italian Gardens at Wickham Park, 1329 Middle Turnpike West, Manchester.
Christopher Arnott can be reached at carnott@courant.com.