So the founder’s day festival ended up being a bit of a bust. There weren’t that many vendors there, and the music, while good, wasn’t really suited to the open air type style of a street fair. But all of that would have been just fine if there had been more people. I showed up two hours in, expecting that the fair would be well in the swing of things but it felt like they were still setting up.
This meant that my getup stuck out more than expected. See, the posters had insisted that costumes were encouraged, and that steampunk costumes were one of the acceptable means of dress. I saw this and of course proceeded to geek out, thinking that I had a wonderful chance to dust off an old costume and wander around with a lot of like-minded people.
Instead I was wandering the almost empty streets of Belltown dressed to the nines in Victorian-style dress with the standard steam-punk attachments (i.e. goggles, huge boots, gears, etc.) without anyone else besides the hired costumes to draw the attention of the random passerby.
So I felt a little more awkward than usual, and decided to take a seat in a little out-of-the-way corner to watch a history talk that was supposed to happen at one o’clock. But nearly as soon as I stretched out my knee-high boots I was tapped on the shoulder.
I squinted up into the sun and caught sight of an old Chinese paper parasol and a figure framed in lace.
“Were you looking for the steam punks?” she asked me.
I backed up to get a better look at her. She was about my height and maybe a decade older, but it was her costume that drew my attention. It was obviously well made and not just thrown together like mine, with quality boots and little period touches tying it all together.
“I wasn’t, but I could be!” I answered back.
Soon I was part of a small crowd of steam punks and learning all about the Seattle steam punk community. Apparently there’s a great group up here that meets every Monday, calling themselves the Seattle Steamrats. They also pointed me in the direction of one of their booths where I picked up an awesome hat! They shared information on how to pick out a good steam punk name and costume; I showed them how to contact juggle.
So even though I didn’t stay for as long I had planned I definitely got something out of the outing… well, something more than just the confused looks of dozens of passerby anyway.