Watch City Steampunk Festival 2018: What To Know

WALTHAM, MA — The Watch City Steampunk Festival, is back. Bring on the costumes, the circus folk, musicians, theater presentations and vendors peddling all things Steampunk.

If foggy goggles on Victoria-era looking people with top hats and corsets doesn't leap to mind, well, maybe they should. Steampunk can be loosely thought of as the literary mix of Victorian-era history and fashion with a modern technology and the fantastical brought to life. There are robots and gears and top hats galore.

The annual festival (give or take a year) in Waltham -- which happens to be the largest in the country of its kind --will be held May 12 throughout the city, though the main events will be centered around the common. And yes, it will happen rain or shine. And the afternoon activities are free this year.

There will be stilt walkers, a parade, pub crawl and a circus. Yes. A circus.

The Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation founded the event back in 2010 as a way to raise money for repairs following a bad flood. And since then, it's kept going, except for 2014. The first year organizers expected a few hundred and 1,000 showed up and each year the number has grown with as many as 10,000 estimated last year.

Now the Downtown Waltham Partnership, a Waltham-based nonprofit along with the Waltham Tourism Council, Waltham Cultural Council, Mass Cultural Council and Hobbs Brook Management sponsor the event.

There will be lectures at the Waltham Public Library and with music at Margarita’s Plaza and Garcia Brogan’s, just across the Charles River south of the Common. Carter Street will be closed for a great selection of food trucks. And new this year? The big finale will feature the talents of the Boston Circus Guild.

Check out the morning schedule here:

Oh and What is Steampunk?

Steampunk is a literary and artistic movement that melds elements of Victorian-era history and fashion with modern technology and fantastical fiction. What if the seminal science fiction adventures of authors Jules Verne and H.G. Wells described our world today? What if we could fly in airships, sail in submarines like the Nautilus, and enjoy a good cup of tea while we're at it?

For more information and schedule of events, visit the festival's website.

Have you signed up for the daily free friendly Neighborhood Patchnewsletter yet? You should probably get on that.

Images at the top YouTube screengrabs from this great tour of the festival from last year.