Presented by Dash Qualls-Gibeau
Come discover the concrete examples of Lovecraft’s works as a legitimate basis for a modern working magickal system.
Part automaton, all intellectual dilettante, Dash Qualls-Gibeau spends inordinate amounts of time venturing to the past to get answers for questions as old as time . . . a bit of a polymath regarding the darker side of life . . . or death.
Presented by M. Leigh Hood
They’re really real and really lost. You won’t find any shoggoths lurking in these buried ruins, subterranean cities, and sunken kingdoms, but that doesn’t make them any less worth exploring. Go globe-trotting through some of the latest and greatest archeological discoveries and hear tales of serendipitous accidents as we dig into history-once-forgotten.
M. Leigh Hood is a rare beast of the Cincinnati wilds, most often found walking her monstrous hound, Shuck, or working hard to exacerbate her carpal tunnel syndrome at the computer. Her work appears in Fairy Tales Punk’d Volume II, Cincinnati Magazine, and the in-development MonThology project.
EvilToad Studios facilitate your creativity with art and props.
Bold, beautiful, seductive, emotional, and haunting art. Unique and one of a kind dimensional art work by Tomasz W. Klymiuk,
Click on the banner to learn more about them . . .
The mystery thickens with the discovery of a cog that does not fit the machine!
This weekend marks just under half a year until we once more step back in time to 1893 and experience dimensions of the Chicago World’s Fair that neverwas.
Each year there is a mystery to be solved at the Exposition as part of our Steam & Sorcery LARP Game; this time around it began with a fire . . . from ice? Every week between now and the end of May 2025, we shall release another Clue Card to help you solve the mystery game that begins during Opening Ceremonies on Friday, May 30th, 2025.
Also each week, we bring you the latest updates (see below) on the 2025 Program, Exhibitors, and more!
Save these Clue Cards to a folder on your phone and prepare your investigation into our “Curse of Cthulhu” LARP Game.
Here are some details about presentations that will be part of the program in May 2025.
If you have a presentation, workshop, or some other fun activity that you would like to propose for the 2025 Exposition Program, please fill out our PRESENTER APPLICATION FORM. We are also looking for GAMES MASTERS to run tabletop games, and we are always on the search for talented PERFORMERS.
Exhibitors at the Exposition are divided into three main locations: The Underground Market (Sienna), The Palace of Fine Arts (Slate), and The Midway Plaisance (Atrium Lobby).
This week we featured the following exhibitors:
Badges and Tea Tickets are already on sale for the 2025 Exposition! Until the end of this year, ALL badges are $10 off the regular price AND the first 100 Weekend Badges sold will receive an EXCLUSIVE brass colored Exposition 2025 pin that matches the theme. The pin design is almost done and we should be able to reveal it in our next countdown update, but we can describe it as the Exposition Ferris wheel and of course . . . tentacles!
Click on the Box Office image below to purchase your tickets today! Please note that for 2025 we will be printing your name (in a fancy font) on the badge, so include “badge names” in the “Order Notes” section of the check out form. In addition to your name, badges will also be labeled with your order number for reference in case lost badges get turned into Registration; that said, however, please remember that lost badges that are not turned in can not be replaced and a new purchase will be required.
New for 2025, the Exposition will offer a limited ticket banquet on Friday and Saturday evening. We are currently working on the menu and pricing, but this meal will also offer patrons the opportunity to sit with one of our guests of honor for a meal and pleasant conversation. Details coming in our next countdown update, but meanwhile tickets for our Afternoon Tea Parties are on sale now.
We are looking for Presenters, Performers, Games Masters, and other people to run sessions for the 2025 Chicago Steampunk Exposition program. Applications are now live; please click on the appropriate image to access the form.
For April 2024, the Exposition hotel was actually sold out. Admittedly not all the people staying at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg that weekend were there for the Exposition, but nonetheless the hotel was sold out. To avoid getting locked out in 2025, we recommend booking your room early (you can always cancel later if needs be) which you can do starting at the end of this month (needs to be 13 months out from the event).
Presented by Kay Gray and Crysta K Coburn
Have you ever wondered what lurks in the Great Lakes and beyond? What Eldritch horrors could make themselves known at any time?
Join the hosts of Haunted Mitten to hear all about the weird world of lake monsters!
Kay Gray has been studying the paranormal and supernatural for close to 25 years. She is co-host of the popular podcast Haunted Mitten, co-author of the book Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends, as well as several short stories in the Steampunk genre, and an occasional dramaturge for the Neighborhood Theatre Group. When she is not writing or reading, she can be found lost in nature with her dog and husband. Find her online @kgraywrites on almost all platforms.
Crysta K. Coburn has been writing award-winning stories for most of her life. Her first short story was published at the age of sixteen after winning runner-up in a local writing contest. She earned her bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Western Michigan University in 2005. She is a journalist, fiction writer, poet, playwright, editor, podcaster, and occasional lyricist. She co-wrote the book “Ypsilanti Ghosts and Legends” with Kay Gray and served as editor for “The Queen of Clocks and Other Steampunk Tales,” “Cogs, Crowns, and Carriages,” and “Gears, Ghouls, and Gauges” (the latter two with Phoebe Darqueling). She co-hosts the popular podcast Haunted Mitten. Find her online at crystakcoburn.com.
Presented by Scott Cummings
The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago was big. Abnormally big. “The unconquerable American desire to do things on a bigger scale than anybody else, which often results in our ‘biting off more than we can chew,’ has again run away with us,” wrote Scribner’s Magazine about this colossal enterprise in Jackson Park. “There are many illustrations of this gnawing hunger at the World’s Fair.” This travelogue and magic lantern show will serve up a feast of stupendous attractions on the fairgrounds, from a tenebrous treehouse, to a chthonian crystalline cave, to a maddeningly mountainous machine on the Midway. Also on the menu are eldritch electrical enigmas, a gargantuan gourd, an ominous oven, and the biggest gun, the biggest golden effigy, and the biggest spyglass in the biggest building in the world.
Scott Cummings is an independent researcher who publishes worldsfairchicago1893.com, an educational website devoted to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. When not exploring the White City, he has served on the Board of Directors of the International Wizard of Oz Club and as editor-in-chief of its journal. He writes articles and presents talks on a wide range of topics, including renewable energy, obscure theater shows, author L. Frank Baum, and the history of the Chicago fairgrounds. He presented a talk on “13 Places to Hide a Body at the 1893 World’s Fair” for the 2024 Chicago Steampunk Exposition.
The storyteller Boz returns with bizarre and hysterical tales from across time and space.
Boz has traveled the cosmos and through time to bring you tales you have never dreamed could be real – but they are. Witnessing the experiences himself, Boz has chronicled stories of elder gods toying with his childhood friend, Robert Kipner in the 1920s. He has carefully recorded hilarious accounts of the misadventures circling his best friend and sociopath, Jimmy as he sails the Milky Way to earn a buck. In between, Boz has jotted quick, entertaining moments of time, collecting them in one volume, for those who only read while on the toilet.
Boz writes books of the macabre, the fiction of science, and the fantastical make-believe worlds of medieval. Kipner’s Boon, Boz’s latest novel, will be available for purchase from Boz himself along with acquiring the coveted Boz Seal upon the inside cover.
Click on the banner to learn more about them . . .
Huzzah!!! This weekend marks exactly half a year until we once more step back in time to 1893 and experience dimensions of the Chicago World’s Fair that neverwas.
Each year there is a mystery to be solved at the Exposition as part of our Steam & Sorcery LARP Game; this time around it began with a fire . . . from ice? Every week between now and the end of May 2025, we shall release another Clue Card to help you solve the mystery game that begins during Opening Ceremonies on Friday, May 30th, 2025.
Also each week, we bring you the latest updates (see below) on the 2025 Program, Exhibitors, and more!
Save these Clue Cards to a folder on your phone and prepare your investigation into our “Curse of Cthulhu” LARP Game.
This week we began filling in some of the details about presentations that will be part of the program in May 2025.
If you have a presentation, workshop, or some other fun activity that you would like to propose for the 2025 Exposition Program, please fill out our PRESENTER APPLICATION FORM. We are also looking for GAMES MASTERS to run tabletop games, and we are always on the search for talented PERFORMERS.
Exhibitors at the Exposition are divided into three main locations: The Underground Market (Sienna), The Palace of Fine Arts (Slate), and The Midway Plaisance (Atrium Lobby).
This week we featured the following exhibitors:
Badges and Tea Tickets are already on sale for the 2025 Exposition! Until the end of this year, ALL badges are $10 off the regular price AND the first 100 Weekend Badges sold will receive an EXCLUSIVE brass colored Exposition 2025 pin that matches the theme. The pin design is almost done and we should be able to reveal it in our next countdown update, but we can describe it as the Exposition Ferris wheel and of course . . . tentacles!
Click on the Box Office image below to purchase your tickets today! Please note that for 2025 we will be printing your name (in a fancy font) on the badge, so include “badge names” in the “Order Notes” section of the check out form. In addition to your name, badges will also be labeled with your order number for reference in case lost badges get turned into Registration; that said, however, please remember that lost badges that are not turned in can not be replaced and a new purchase will be required.
New for 2025, the Exposition will offer a limited ticket banquet on Friday and Saturday evening. We are currently working on the menu and pricing, but this meal will also offer patrons the opportunity to sit with one of our guests of honor for a meal and pleasant conversation. Details coming in our next countdown update, but meanwhile tickets for our Afternoon Tea Parties are on sale now.
We are looking for Presenters, Performers, Games Masters, and other people to run sessions for the 2025 Chicago Steampunk Exposition program. Applications are now live; please click on the appropriate image to access the form.
For April 2024, the Exposition hotel was actually sold out. Admittedly not all the people staying at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg that weekend were there for the Exposition, but nonetheless the hotel was sold out. To avoid getting locked out in 2025, we recommend booking your room early (you can always cancel later if needs be) which you can do starting at the end of this month (needs to be 13 months out from the event).
Presented by Kelsey Josephson
At the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, a plethora of groundbreaking inventions were unveiled, showcasing the ingenuity and innovation of the era. Notable inventions from the fair included the first successful hand-powered dishwasher, the Ferris Wheel, Cracker Jack popcorn, and the first moving pictures, all of which left a lasting impact on society. Come explore these fascinating innovations and their enduring legacy!
Kelsey Josephson is a sci-fi fantasy author and member of SFWA and ALLi from the Midwest. She has a deep love for Universal Monster movies, all things related to Nikola Tesla, and iced coffee.
Her work includes Strange Happenings, a gaslamp fantasy series set in an alternate timeline, and Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast, a steampunk fairy tale retelling. You can find more about her work by visiting www.kelseyjosephson.com
Each year there is a mystery to be solved at the Exposition as part of our Steam & Sorcery LARP Game; this time around it begins with a fire. Every week between now and the end of May 2025, we shall release another Clue Card to help you solve the mystery game that begins during Opening Ceremonies on Friday, May 30th, 2025.
Also each week, we bring you the latest updates (see below) on the 2025 Program, Exhibitors, and more!
Save these Clue Cards to a folder on your phone and prepare your investigation into our “Curse of Cthulhu” LARP Game.
This week we began filling in some of the details about presentations that will be part of the program in May 2025.
If you have a presentation, workshop, or some other fun activity that you would like to propose for the 2025 Exposition Program, please fill out our PRESENTER APPLICATION FORM. We are also looking for GAMES MASTERS to run tabletop games, and we are always on the search for talented PERFORMERS.
Exhibitors at the Exposition are divided into three main locations: The Underground Market (Sienna), The Palace of Fine Arts (Slate), and The Midway Plaisance (Atrium Lobby).
This week we featured the following exhibitors:
Badges and Tea Tickets are already on sale for the 2025 Exposition! Until the end of this year, ALL badges are $10 off the regular price AND the first 100 Weekend Badges sold will receive an EXCLUSIVE brass colored Exposition 2025 pin that matches the theme. The pin design is almost done and we should be able to reveal it in our next countdown update, but we can describe it as the Exposition Ferris wheel and of course . . . tentacles!
Click on the Box Office image below to purchase your tickets today! Please note that for 2025 we will be printing your name (in a fancy font) on the badge, so include “badge names” in the “Order Notes” section of the check out form. In addition to your name, badges will also be labeled with your order number for reference in case lost badges get turned into Registration; that said, however, please remember that lost badges that are not turned in can not be replaced and a new purchase will be required.
New for 2025, the Exposition will offer a limited ticket banquet on Friday and Saturday evening. We are currently working on the menu and pricing, but this meal will also offer patrons the opportunity to sit with one of our guests of honor for a meal and pleasant conversation. Details coming in our next countdown update, but meanwhile tickets for our Afternoon Tea Parties are on sale now.
We are looking for Presenters, Performers, Games Masters, and other people to run sessions for the 2025 Chicago Steampunk Exposition program. Applications are now live; please click on the appropriate image to access the form.
For April 2024, the Exposition hotel was actually sold out. Admittedly not all the people staying at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg that weekend were there for the Exposition, but nonetheless the hotel was sold out. To avoid getting locked out in 2025, we recommend booking your room early (you can always cancel later if needs be) which you can do starting at the end of this month (needs to be 13 months out from the event).