By Noah Diedrich
Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
The hats were feathered and the intensity palpable at the Vermont Steampunk Expo last Saturday, as two competitors clad in Victorian garb clashed in a contest of wills.
They were partaking in a tea duel — in which combatants attempt to hold a tea-soaked cookie vertically without it collapsing. The duelist who can hold their cookie aloft the longest without it falling, or having to eat it, wins.
“You could cut the tension with a jam knife,” said the duel judge in a faux British accent.
One of the competitors’ hands shook as her biscuit began to teeter. She tried but failed to bring it to her mouth, and the wet cookie plunked into her teacup.
With a confident smile, her opponent snapped up her own cookie and claimed her spot as tea duel champion.
Tea dueling is a staple of steampunk — a subgenre of science fiction that merges roughly Victorian Era aesthetics with once-thought-futuristic, steam-powered technology. Inspired by the works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and “The Wild Wild West” TV show of the 1960s, the style has amassed a large cult following.
The third Vermont Steampunk Expo, held at the Champlain Valley Exposition this past weekend, hosted nearly 1,000 visitors to celebrate the genre, said Jeff Folb, general manager and owner of Vermont Gatherings, the festival production company behind the event.
Folb, who runs Vermont Gatherings with his wife, Debra, said the Vermont Steampunk Expo was the product of both a personal interest and an effort to fill a niche in the market.
“If you didn’t know what it was, you probably aren’t going to come and check it out,” he said. “But if you’re into it, you’re very into it.”
Case in point: Attendees are more likely to dress up at the Steampunk Expo than at the company’s Vermont Renaissance Faire, Folb said.
Nearly everyone in attendance had donned retrofuturistic frock coats, ball gowns and aviator goggles. They dangled futuristic model pistols from their belts, carried parasols over their shoulders and sported dapper machinery-adorned top hats on their heads.
Williston resident Penny Bourgeois, victor of the tea duel, said she has been participating in steampunk culture with her husband, Tim, for nearly 10 years.
The secret to tea dueling? Steady hands, Penny said. “It’s a very psychological game.”
Penny wore a black dress with a bustle and toted a parasol and a leather teacup-shaped purse. Hanging from her waist was a teacup and saucer holster, a nod to her dueling prowess.
The combination of Victorian austerity with science fiction elements plays into steampunk’s unique fashion, husband Tim said.
“A lot of people describe it as ‘history that happened sooner,’” he said, speaking while dressed in a beige frock coat.
“It’s really, really fun,” he said. “Some people build contraptions and contrivances and mechanical somethings. I haven’t gone that far, personally.”
Tim said a big part of steampunk culture is making up a persona or character for yourself while decked out in costume. His character was a slippery airship magnate who manufactures engine parts, he said.
“Somehow I got nominated to work for the government regulatory agency to make sure that these steam machines have the proper controls on them,” he said. “So there’s no conflict of interest there at all.”
One of the main goals of the Vermont Steampunk Expo is to highlight local artisans and give them an opportunity to sell their wares to an engaged audience, said Folb, the event organizer.
“We’re real big in supporting local crafters and artists,” Folb said. “It’s giving them a venue to be able to sell their stuff because they don’t have brick-and-mortar stores.”
The event drew vendors from all over New England, too. Stephanie Shields, who runs Blue Flame Leather and Accessories, came from Boston to display her stock of steampunk-inspired hats.
“It’s a principle part of things,” she said. “In Victorian times, everybody wore a hat most of the time.”
She was particularly proud of a bowler hat whose crown she had replaced with a birdcage.
Nathan Miller of Dragon Moon Creations buys Nerf guns and revamps them to fit the steampunk aesthetic, he said. Behind the Rochester, New York, resident’s stand was a wall display of nearly 30 Nerf guns he had sanded down and airbrushed.
“All the Nerfs work — I test them on my kids,” he said with a smile.
Lucy Moulton, proprietor of Maple Moons Arts, said they associate steampunk culture with the optimism and ingenuity of England’s Edwardian Era, the period directly following Queen Victoria’s rule in the early 1900s.
“Everybody had these hopes for a brighter, more energetic future, and that gets to the very heart of steampunk,” Moulton said. “To me, that translates to hope and curiosity. I feel like, in our current age, there’s not a lot of either of them.”
Folb said Vermont Gatherings, which has been putting on genre festivals for nine years, gives people a place where they can mingle with those who have similar interests.
“It’s a labor of love,” he said. “We’ve always said that if we can support local businesses, put smiles on people’s faces and pay our bills, we win. So, right now, we’re winning.”
