Bringing the Steampunk: Springfield festival mixes past and the distant future

“Steampunk is a hope for the future and a love of the design found in the early industrial age,” Steampunk artist Janel Lowrance said. “For me it’s sort of the ultimate in recycling.”
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Bringing the Steampunk: Springfield festival mixes past and the distant future September 9, 2015 - Cover Stories, Front page - no comments 0910_RHV_CoverCropped COVER STORY | By Janelle Faignant It’s hard to say exactly what Steampunk is. Internet images bring up a mashup of costumes of leather with old ruffled Victorian dresses. Pocket watches, top hats and aviation goggles with lace and corsets. An effect that’s simultaneously archaic and futuristic. But those are only some examples. You can formulate your own definition of Steampunk, and that’s part of its appeal. “Once you see it you think, oh yeah, I know what this is,” Steampunk author Jennifer Eifrig said. The hybrid spirit of it is a spinoff of science fiction. It’s an alternate world of time-travelers from the Victorian era, where steam power is still widely used. Modern ideas are fused with things from the past. Think H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, whose works are said to be the inspiration for Steampunk. “Steampunk is a hope for the future and a love of the design found in the early industrial age,” Steampunk artist Janel Lowrance said. “For me it’s sort of the ultimate in recycling.” Lowrance and Eifrig are both presenters at the first Springfield Vermont Steampunk Festival, taking place the weekend beginning Friday, Sept. 11. What started as a Facebook group of Steampunk fans sharing photos became the catalyst for the festival. In January, the Steampunk Society of Vermont partnered with Hartness House Inn to present the festival, which will benefit the Springfield Community Center. “The aesthetic of Steampunk is perfect for Springfield,” festival coordinator Sabrina Smith said. “We’re an industrial town, [with a] rich history of industry and innovation, and that is Steampunk — building new things out of old things. We would like for Springfield to be the Steampunk capital of Vermont.” The Steampunk movement is hugely DIY. Most of the elaborate costumes have been handmade, from the clothing to the accessories. “That’s part of the fun of it,” Smith says, “for the people with talent.” “I really love the aesthetic of it,” Lowrance says. Lowrance will be running panels on how to make your own costumes at the festival, as well as showing some of her own work in the fashion show. She specializes in creating fairy, Steampunk and period clothes, jewelry and accessories. “But most people, if they’re really into it,” Eifrig said, “eventually start developing a character, an alter-ego.” Within the Steampunk community there are varying levels of interest — some people just like to look at the costumes, literature, art and music produced within the genre. Others actually write books or make costumes. And for some it’s a lifestyle. “If you go to a convention and meet someone who’s in their ‘steam-sona’ [Steampunk persona] they’ll be able to tell you an entire origin story,” one fan says. Eifrig writes books she describes as urban fantasy and Steampunk. But those who read her know her as Evelyn (Mrs. Josiah) Grimwood — her Steampunk alter-ego. Mrs. Grimwood is an official agent of the Atlantic Alliance of Chronometric Transportation & Regulation — a title and occupation Eifrig made up, but it’s rooted in both fiction and factual 19th-century history. Her stories are told as Mrs. Grimwood, a corporate historian who keeps track of time travelers. Her stories come from the log book of people she’s met through various travels. Grimwood even has her own logo and website. At the festival, Eifrig will present as both Grimwood and herself, first explaining her day-to-day life and work, before doing a phone-booth-like switch into Grimwood. “You can make Steampunk whatever it is you want it to be,” one fan says in the short but sweeping documentary “Beyond the Gears: The Steampunk Movement.” “I think the festival will be a wonderful time of something [people] may not have experienced before,” Lowrance said. From Friday evening through Sunday afternoon the festival offers music, workshops, a fashion show, author readings and an absinthe tasting workshop. S. B. MacDonald, an absinthe expert who studied in Paris, brings with him a whole collection of accouterments that go with the ritual of drinking absinthe. The Steampunk Ball will be held Saturday night at Hartness House, which will also host various other activities throughout the weekend. A shuttle bus will run throughout the festival to bring people to the different venues and back and forth to the parking areas. In general, Steampunk festivals are family friendly, and there are children’s activities at the festival as well. “The community is full of artists encouraging each other to do new and exciting artwork,” Lowrance said. “It’s sort of a battle against the world our parents were raised in, where you have to ‘grow up and get a real job’ and stop dressing up. We’re redefining what being an adult means. You can be an adult and love art, and enjoy costuming, and play computer games or card games. It doesn’t mean you have to conform and give up on things you love.” Springfield Vermont Steampunk Festival Friday, Sept. 11 — Sunday Sept. 13 Throughout downtown Springfield To view the full schedule of events and purchase tickets, visit www.springfieldvtsteampunkfest.com