Watch City Steampunk Festival To Return To Waltham This Weekend

WALTHAM, MA — The Watch City Steampunk Festival will return to Waltham Common on Saturday, May 7, according to Downtown Waltham Partnership.

The free outdoor community festival will run from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. rain or shine and celebrate “Steampunk,” a literary and artistic movement that combines elements of Industrial Revolution-era history and fashion with modern technology, science fiction, and whimsy.

“What did the Victorians think the future would look like, and what if that’s the future that happened? What if everything that H.G Wells and Jules Verne wrote about came true?” said Melissa Honig, the festival’s lead organizer, in a statement.

Originally created in 2010 by the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation, the Watch City Steampunk Festival was taken over by the Downtown Waltham Partnership in 2015. Due to the pandemic, the festival was presented virtually in 2020 and 2021, and the 2022 event marks the return of the in-person event to Waltham.

This year’s event will feature multiple stages with music and performances, childrens’ activities, historical presentations, food trucks, and over 60 vendors. The festival’s finale will feature rock band Celtica Nova.

The Watch City Steampunk Festival is supported in part by a grant from the Waltham Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council. Additional funding is provided by a grant from the Jones Partnership Fund and grants from the Waltham Tourism Council.