The Asylum - Steampunk Festival
I've been meaning to write up about this for a while, but I've had other things on my mind.
So, for my birthday my boyfriend bought me tickets to The Asylum, a Steampunk Festival they hold every year in Lincoln. I've wanted to go for years and I'm so glad I finally got the chance. It was amazing. Lincoln is a city and the festival takes over the whole city centre, including the Castle, where they held a lot of events at. Lincoln itself is a really lovely city, which reminds me a lot of York. I wish I lived closer to either.
So, let's take this day by day.
Friday
Friday morning was spent mostly queuing up to register, which was happening at the Uni Campus. We didn't realise how far this was from where we were staying and there were some hills involved. It was tiring and the queuing took nearly 2 hours. There also wasn't a lot on the first day, so we spent a fair bit of time just familiarising ourselves with the Campus. There was a lovely little cafe called the Curiositea Room and a market we spent a fair bit of time wondering around.
There weren't many panels, but we did go to one on where to find materials and inspiration.
We walked back through the city centre, but nothing was set up yet, though there were still people milling around in costumes and there were some AMAZING costumes, including this one:
There was a lovely atmosphere to the whole day. Steampunks are the loveliest and friendliest people.
We had food at Wangamamas at the marina where there were many food outlets and then spent the evening watching old school Wrestling...I may have a new obsession.
Saturday
Saturday was the first proper day, with many things to see and attend. These included Parasol Dueling (non contact sport), Wacky Races, Nerf Gun Duelling and Jet Pack racing. Most of which were happening at the Castle.
It was SO hard to move around though, the place was jam packed. It was like being at a convention, you had to squeeze around the people who had been stopped to have their photo taken. Matt and I were dressed up, but neither of us were wearing anything elaborate, so we didn't get stopped, but I did take a few pictures myself of the amazing costumes.
In the evening we went along to a viewing of a movie, which we thought was going to be Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which appeared to be advertised, but was actually Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, a movie I hadn't seen since I was a kid and was quite excited to see. It was a jolly good, fun film. Everyone was singing along to the theme and they had a display of Aviation.
Sunday
While the weather had been lovely to start with, Sunday brought the rain. It didn't stop events from happening, but it did put a bit of a downer on the day. Especially when I got pretty cold in what I was wearing and we had to go back to get changed. We still tried to make the most of it, but watching a parade at the castle and tea pot racing, which was fun, if pretty weird.
However, the highlight of Sunday was the gig in the evening. We had tickets to see Steam Powered Giraffe! This was one of the reason I really wanted to come to the Asylum, this was their third year attending. (And their last apparently)
I wasn't aware that they had any support acts and was surprised when they had two, both with 45 mins slots, so SPG didn't come on until pretty late and their set was only and an hour and a half. The other two acts were pretty good, but I came for SPG. To be fair though, they were a lot of fun and did some fun skits in between songs. And singing along to their songs was brilliant. So, it was worth it overall.
There were events on Monday, but we had to drive back so we didn't stick around all day. We still got to check out the costume competition and one last look around the markets. The only things I bought were a pin to go with my rough pirate outfit, a potion necklace and a little present for my nephew, which he's getting at Christmas. There were other things I wanted, but they were pretty pricey.
All in all it was a really fun weekend which gave me so many ideas for things to do which at some point I intend to do. It would be awesome to go back next week, but that will be decided the start of next year.
So, for my birthday my boyfriend bought me tickets to The Asylum, a Steampunk Festival they hold every year in Lincoln. I've wanted to go for years and I'm so glad I finally got the chance. It was amazing. Lincoln is a city and the festival takes over the whole city centre, including the Castle, where they held a lot of events at. Lincoln itself is a really lovely city, which reminds me a lot of York. I wish I lived closer to either.
So, let's take this day by day.
Friday
Friday morning was spent mostly queuing up to register, which was happening at the Uni Campus. We didn't realise how far this was from where we were staying and there were some hills involved. It was tiring and the queuing took nearly 2 hours. There also wasn't a lot on the first day, so we spent a fair bit of time just familiarising ourselves with the Campus. There was a lovely little cafe called the Curiositea Room and a market we spent a fair bit of time wondering around.
There weren't many panels, but we did go to one on where to find materials and inspiration.
We walked back through the city centre, but nothing was set up yet, though there were still people milling around in costumes and there were some AMAZING costumes, including this one:
There was a lovely atmosphere to the whole day. Steampunks are the loveliest and friendliest people.
We had food at Wangamamas at the marina where there were many food outlets and then spent the evening watching old school Wrestling...I may have a new obsession.
Saturday
Saturday was the first proper day, with many things to see and attend. These included Parasol Dueling (non contact sport), Wacky Races, Nerf Gun Duelling and Jet Pack racing. Most of which were happening at the Castle.
It was SO hard to move around though, the place was jam packed. It was like being at a convention, you had to squeeze around the people who had been stopped to have their photo taken. Matt and I were dressed up, but neither of us were wearing anything elaborate, so we didn't get stopped, but I did take a few pictures myself of the amazing costumes.
In the evening we went along to a viewing of a movie, which we thought was going to be Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which appeared to be advertised, but was actually Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, a movie I hadn't seen since I was a kid and was quite excited to see. It was a jolly good, fun film. Everyone was singing along to the theme and they had a display of Aviation.
Sunday
While the weather had been lovely to start with, Sunday brought the rain. It didn't stop events from happening, but it did put a bit of a downer on the day. Especially when I got pretty cold in what I was wearing and we had to go back to get changed. We still tried to make the most of it, but watching a parade at the castle and tea pot racing, which was fun, if pretty weird.
However, the highlight of Sunday was the gig in the evening. We had tickets to see Steam Powered Giraffe! This was one of the reason I really wanted to come to the Asylum, this was their third year attending. (And their last apparently)
I wasn't aware that they had any support acts and was surprised when they had two, both with 45 mins slots, so SPG didn't come on until pretty late and their set was only and an hour and a half. The other two acts were pretty good, but I came for SPG. To be fair though, they were a lot of fun and did some fun skits in between songs. And singing along to their songs was brilliant. So, it was worth it overall.
There were events on Monday, but we had to drive back so we didn't stick around all day. We still got to check out the costume competition and one last look around the markets. The only things I bought were a pin to go with my rough pirate outfit, a potion necklace and a little present for my nephew, which he's getting at Christmas. There were other things I wanted, but they were pretty pricey.
All in all it was a really fun weekend which gave me so many ideas for things to do which at some point I intend to do. It would be awesome to go back next week, but that will be decided the start of next year.