A brand-new steampunk festival just dropped on the map, ladies and gentlemen: Aurora, Indiana threw its first-ever Steam Punk Festival this past weekend, September 12-13, at Gabbard Riverfront Park on the Ohio River. Gears, gadgets, Victorian-inspired chaos, costume contests, vendors, and live music courtesy of Thawind Mills all weekend, plus Seventh Day Slumber with Magdalene Rose closing out Sunday afternoon. First-time event, riverfront setting, live performances. The Doctor approves of this origin story.

Aurora is a small river town with a lot of 19th-century bones, which makes it arguably a more authentic backdrop for a steampunk gathering than most convention-center hotel ballrooms I could name. The fact that somebody looked at that historic riverfront and said, “you know what this needs? Corsets and clockwork” is the correct instinct, and I respect it entirely. If you’re in the Indiana/Ohio/Kentucky tri-state orbit, put this one on the calendar for 2027 because first-year festivals either die quietly or grow into something ridiculous. I’m betting on ridiculous.

Via: Visit Southeast Indiana