Anderson, South Carolina, has a lot of authentic ties to the Steampunk genre; it was the first city in America to have non-stop electrical power thanks to a ground-breaking hydroelectric plant designed by  engineer William Whitner after a personal consultation with Nicolas Tesla.   After that, Anderson was called "The Electric City."  Dieselpunk can also lay claim to Anderson, since Amelia Earhart made a point of stopping there in 1931 on a promotional aviation tour of America, piloting her Pitcairn PCA-2.

These days The Electric City has a much more direct and festive connection to our favorite past time; The Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza And Meet Up.  This convention, only in its second year, attracted 247 registered attendees who came to spend September 30, October 1 and 2, 2011 for a fun weekend of panels and socializing in the vendors areas. Friday night even saw a Victorian Bathing Suit Pool party in the hotel pool and spa area.

Saturday of the event, organized by Gypsy Teague and Marla Roberson, featured panels consisting of such wonderfully diverse topics as "Real Designs Principles of Space and Machinery in Steampunk," "The Art of Absinthe," "Steampunk Millinery (hat making)," and "Green Steam: Junk to Art," just to name a few.  Panel presentations were rounded out by an on-going gaming room and a rotating showing of the genre-themed movies, "Nickel Children," "Aurora," and "Browncoats Redemption."  For those of the more genteel set, Tea Mistress Sandra Sanderson and her Tea Assistant Annette Buchanan held two sessions of formal Victorian Tea as perfected by Queen Victoria and her courtiers.

A small host of authors were on hand as well this year, not even including event organizer and published writer Gypsy Teague.  Winfield Strock III of "Adventures Above the Aether," was joined by Gail Gray (owner of Shadow Archer Press), Tonia Brown of "Railroad!," K.G. McAbee (half of the writing team also featuring Cynthia D. Witherspoon) of "Brass and Bone," and J.M. Lee of "October Ends" and "Chasing." 

With the evening winding down musical guests Valentine Wolf took to the stage area to enchant, pausing briefly for the announcement of the winners of the Mr. and Mrs. Steampunk contest - which was decided by the donations of dry and canned goods placed into the decorative boxes adorned with the faces of the contestants.  The canned goods in turn went to one of this year's charities, Clemson Community Care (www.clemsoncommunitycare.org).  Upstate Steampunk also endows a collection of Steampunk at Clemson University.  This year's book endowment focused on tomes concerning the arts, sculpture, fashion, and jewelry.

At the contest's end, more than 300 lbs. of food had been donated and Mr. Steampunk, Julian Storm and Mrs. Steampunk, Evil Mandy, received their prizes.  After the assemblage sang "Happy Birthday" for J.M. Lee (who was also a runner up in the contest), the entertainers went back to creating a night of music and song.

Sunday morning came too quickly for an event featuring a bartender armed with the ingredients from the "Art of Absinthe" panel, but the "Breakfast Buffet with the Browncoats" went on as scheduled, possibly as a testimony to the famed stubbornness of Firefly fans.

Thus the early Sunday afternoon gave way to the end of the 2011 edition of the Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza and Meet-Up, but next year already sounds like a promising event in the works.  For one thing, according to a general announcement made by organizer Teague, the event will expand its footprint at their host hotel who made a point of inviting back the Steampunks before the majority of the evening's festivities had even begun. 

Secondly there was the announcement of a Steampunk film festival, "Similar to Sundance.  There will be three categories; videos under 30 minutes, videos over 30 minutes, and music videos."  Gypsy cited the visual success of "Aurora" as an example of what was possible to do with a small budget and a dedicated and inventive crew.  "They beat Lucas Films, these days," she emphasized.

Contestants will be competing for cash prizes.  "Will be taking entries throughout the year, it doesn't cost anything to enter."  Many of the details are still in development or under wraps, but Teague's enthusiasm is evident, even after having been on her feet for the entire day.  "We're going to show all the entries next year and then announce the winners," she promised, smiling.

Some of other details for next year's event are also "under development."  The host hotel can't release large blocks of rooms until the 2012 Clemson football schedule is announced, which won't happen until mid-February of next year.  Until then, Gypsy and Marla literally can't tell when Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza And Meet-Up will be bringing goggles, cogs and corsets back into the heart of The Electric City that Nicholas Tesla helped build.

For more details about Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza And Meet-Up, you can join their page on Facebook or find their webpage at www.upstatesteampunk.com

Professor Upsidasium is flattered to be a contributor to Steampunk Chronicle.  He uses the Visuatronic Audiographic Steampunk Archive to capture images and sounds of events he has been to and individuals he has had the pleasure of speaking with.  You can follow his ramblings on Twitter or explore the current iteration of the archives on YouTube.