It’s here. Tomorrow. Weekend at the Asylum 16 descends on Lincoln, UK August 28-31, and if you’re not already on a transatlantic flight with your brass goggles fogged from the sheer anticipation, I genuinely cannot help you. The Ministry of Steampunk has stacked the evening entertainment like a proper mad scientist stacks capacitors: Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer, Victor and the Bully, Alice Strange, Madam Misfit, and Tom B. Wild Esq. are all on the bill. That is not a lineup. That is a declaration of intent.

Lincoln’s Drill Hall and the surrounding Victorian streets turn into the most gloriously unhinged retro-futurist party on the planet for four days every August, and this is edition sixteen. Sixteen. The Doctor has been watching this one grow from a curious experiment into an institution, and institutions that celebrate corsets, copper fittings, and chap-hop deserve every chandelier they’ve got. Go. If you can’t go, follow along on social media and feel appropriately miserable about your life choices.

Nothing can beat old age and betrayal. But a weekend in Lincoln might come close. Grab your tickets and your top hat.

Nine days. That is how long you have before Weekend at the Asylum 16 kicks off in the Historic Quarter of Lincoln, U.K. (August 28-31), and if you are not already on a plane, a dirigible, or at minimum a very fast velocipede, the Doctor is deeply concerned about your life choices. This is Asylum 16, the sixteenth edition of the world’s largest steampunk festival, run by the Ministry of Steampunk out of a city that has been occupied by someone or other since the Romans showed up two thousand years ago. They know how to host a crowd.

This year’s theme is the Year of the Dragon, which means the usual brass gears and Victorian splendor get some scaly, fire-breathing additions woven in. Daytime programming lives inside Lincoln Castle, the Castle Ward, the County Assembly Rooms, and Westgate School: workshops, talks, exhibitions, games, cosplay at a level that will make you feel underdressed in full kit. Evening events feature performers including Mr. B, Victor and the Bully, Alice Strange, and Madam Misfit. Thursday the 27th has the traditional Advanced Guard kick-off for those who arrive early; Monday the 31st closes with the Dead Dog Party, because of course it does. The street festival itself is free to the public, because the Ministry of Steampunk is operated by volunteers who have somehow kept this thing alive since 2009 without a single corporate sponsor. Respect.

Wristbands and evening tickets are still available at the link above. Go. The Omega7Red Formulae was forged for exactly this kind of situation: apply it to an entire medieval city, add ten thousand costumed lunatics, and the output is pure Punk. Nothing can beat old age and betrayal, but a long weekend in Lincoln comes close. High-5.