Last night was our 2nd Annual Victorian Steampunk Ball . It was riotous and epic and wonderful, and despite running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I had a great time. This is the poster I made for the event this year:
My dear friend Jenny came up from Sacramento. We were floozies – she wore her adorable saloon girl outfit, and I wore my Nevada Flag Vaudevillian. Here we are:
Even Chris dressed up – it was his first time in costume! He was pretty stoked to wear a fez, and I was pretty stoked that he shaved his beard into a Victorian style, just for the event.
7 Comments
Laura Morrigan
October 1, 2012 at 2:21 AMThis sounds amazing! I wish we had more things like this! I may have to travel interstate next year to get to the first real steam festival in the country!
Lauren Stowell
October 1, 2012 at 11:02 PMIt's a lot of work, but I always encourage people to throw their own events – it's amazing how many people will come "out of the woodwork" for something like this. 🙂
Robin's Egg Bleu
October 1, 2012 at 7:57 PMI don't think ANYTHING can top your Nevada flag vaudevillian ensemble. It looks like you pulled it from a cabinet card! Awesome!
Lauren Stowell
October 1, 2012 at 11:02 PMThank you so much!!
Musings of a Couturiere
October 1, 2012 at 11:23 PMdo you have any tips on throwing such events? keeping cost low? choosing locations? free advertising? etc?
Lauren Stowell
October 1, 2012 at 11:56 PMHi Kristen – for this event, we did fundraisers throughout the Summer, anything we could do for free or low cost, like movie nights, tea parties, workshops, and charged a small ticket price to get in, like $5 or $10. Talking to local venues about what you want to do is great, too, because often you can get a good deal on a space, or even work with the venue to do a split, etc. For advertising, we were very promote-y on Facebook and on the High Desert Steam club blog/website, but also handing out flyers at other events that were happening around town, getting dressed up and talking to people whenever we could, at farmer's markets, in Virginia City, at downtown festivals. Willie sent press releases to the local newspapers, and we asked if we could put up posters in the windows of local shops, galleries, on campus, etc. The first year we did the ball, it was DJ'd, so we didn't pay for a live band, and the speakers were lent by a club member. The food was provided by one of the coordinator's mother-in-law, and we sold some advertising spots in a little tourist guide booklet we made, which helped too. The majority of funding came from tickets sales – we charged $20 if you pre-paid on Paypal, and $25 at the door.
If you're thinking of putting on an event, and want to bounce ideas, I'll be happy to share what worked (and what didn't) – my email is [email protected]
Musings of a Couturiere
October 3, 2012 at 6:43 AMTHANKS LAUREN, thats a lot of food for thought! I will be in touch!! I'm in Alaska and not many events or places to go for events up here, so I gotta improvise (or create them myself!).