I had the pleasure of attending the Haworth steampunk festival this weekend. It was wonderful to get out of my stuffy office and get to meet some of you. The drive into Haworth is a mixture of tedium and delight. From my base, I had to traverse motorways and drive through a number of towns until I entered the glorious Yorkshire countryside on my approach.
Being a learned reader, you’ll be aware of Haworth as the home of the Brontë sisters. It also has a working steam train line, so it seems fitting to have a steampunk weekend there. Upon entering the town, I made my way to a car park that wasn’t already full. Haworth is always busy with tourists and when there’s an event on, it gets even more so. I managed to find a space and the owner of the car park convinced me to purchase his new book in exchange for two days parking with the proceeds going to charity. I was happy to oblige. I also purchased a programme, which also went to the Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice charity.
The main drag is extremely pretty. The shop owners all work together to make sure that Haworth remains a pleasure to shop at. It was wonderful to see the shop owners and staff all dressed up with hats and goggles. They really got into the spirit of it and welcomed us all with open arms. The streets had several vintage cars parked along the way which made for some wonderful photographic moments.
I made my way to the Community Centre which housed the steampunk market traders. It was a wonderful dsiplay of steampunk items, from clothes, to weaponry, wonderful jewellery and bric-à-brac for making your own accessories from.
There were familiar faces there such as Baron von Krakenhunter (also one of the three organisers of the event) and The Little Steampunk Emporium – who had teamed up with steampunk illustrators Carlie Martece and Lauren C Waterworth. There were also new faces in the form of High Tea and Herringbone who make wonderful scarves and bags.
I’ll be looking at some of these companies in more detail throughout the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for them.
In the evening, I visited the Black Bull and listened to a performance by a local band called Black Horse Fairy. I had a chat with Fanny Ferris, the lead singer and I’ll be putting the interview onto the Journal in the coming days. It involves songs about serial killers, writing lyrics in the grave yard at night and time travellers, so bookmark the Journal and keep checking back. Sadly I missed my chat with Metropolis who were playing at the event, but I’m going to catch up with them in the future.
Hopefully, the weekend was as successful as it seemed to be and there will be another one next year. I certainly had a wonderful time and I think you will too.
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