15 Weeks until the Exposition!

It’s finally here! 2023 is upon us and that leaves just three and a half months until the return of the Exposition!

Lost Victorian New Years Eve Traditions

Many people of the Victorian Era saved their celebrations for New Year’s Day. Early on in the Victorian Era, this was the day for gift giving, feasts and visits to family and friends. Everyone wore their finest clothes for the occasion.

According to Sunny O’Neil in The Gift of Christmas Past: A Return to Victorian Traditions, people of the Victorian Era also used New Year’s day to wipe out their social obligations from the previous year. Wealthy people opened their mansions to visitors, offering huge spreads of food and drink.

Victorian Speed Dating?

For young people, New Year’s Day was a time for “calling.” Women and boys up to age 10 stayed home, while gentleman and eligible bachelors visited houses. Some gentlemen would visit between 30 and 100 houses on New Year’s Day. Of course, they would be obliged to have a drink at each house.

Eligible bachelors would leave their calling cards to show that they had visited. Was this the equivalent of leaving a text message after a speed dating event?

Tea Time with our Guests of Honor

Limited tickets are now available for both Saturday and Sunday to share tea and finger foods with Gail Carriger, Leanna Renee Hieber, SJ Tucker, Frenchy & the Punk, or Tobias McCurry.

Each Guest of Honor will have their own banquet round table, and all at the table will be served a choice of teas: English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey, Assam, or Darjeeling. Food served to accompany the tea consists of: British scone with jam and clotted cream, 2 cucumber sandwiches, 2 egg salad sandwiches, 2 mini eclairs, 2 lemon tartlets, cup of fruit, and 2 Chessmen cookies (for Tea Dueling).

The Guests of Honor Tea Party starts at 2PM in the Cyan Tea Parlor. Pre-sales are electronic, but a physical ticket to the Tea Party will be given during check-in with the Exposition Registration Desk. Tickets are required when arriving at the Tea Parlor.

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Tea Tickets

Immerse Yourself in the Adventure!

This April, the Exposition invites you to immerse yourself into the weekend’s story arc as we solve the mysteries of the fae presence at the 1893 World’s Fair with our Live Action Role Play game Steam & Sorcery.

The “elevator pitch” for Steam & Sorcery is “Steampunk Shadowrun.” Our LARP is inspired by a number of things, but the feel of the game is very akin to the classic cyberpunk meets fantasy RPG Shadowrun. First published in 1989 by FASA, Shadowrun is currently in its sixth edition with publishers Catalyst Games. As an homage to the original 1989 cover art by legendary fantasy artist Larry Elmore, we commissioned artist Emily Vitori to create a team of “Steamrunners” ( featured above) for the cover of the Steam & Sorcery Rule Book set to come out in early January 2023.

Victorian Fae at the 1893 World’s Fair

Each year the Chicago Steampunk Exposition hosts a Special Exhibit that sets the underlying “theme” for that year’s convention; for 2023 our special exhibit will be “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Fantastic Discovery of the Fae World” setting the theme of Victorian Fae at the 1893 World’s Fair. This exhibit will feature art, relics, and other items of interest collected around the Fae Academia following Doyle and his father establishing diplomatic contact with the Fae territories. The Exposition will celebrate the many cultures, achievements, and art of Faekind, and be joined by ambassadors and representatives of these magical realms as we welcome them to Chicago. In many ways this will be like Carnival Row (a sneak peak from Season 2 pictured above), but unlike the Republic of the Burgue, Chicago embraces diversity and multicultural exchanges.

PLEASE NOTE that ALL costuming is welcome, not just Fae, and you don’t even have to come in costume; 21st Century “Time Tumblers” are welcome to 1893 as well 🙂

Join the Exposition!

There are many ways in which you can be a part of the 2023 Chicago Steampunk Exposition! The most obvious is to be an attendee with a ticket, but other opportunities are available.

If you have Steampunk related knowledge and expertise that you would like to share at the Exposition, then we invite you be part of the Program and submit your proposals for presentations.
If you would like to be a part of the Exposition Crew, volunteer positions are available – apply here.

The Venue

This month the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg is in the festive mood with lights and decorations tastefully displayed around the spacious hotel lobby.

More rooms have been added to the room block, so if you were having trouble booking a room, please try again.
Due to the room blocks for Thursday (4/13/23) night and Sunday (4/16/23) night being smaller than Friday and Saturday, guests might encounter a “sold out” experience if checking in on Thursday or out on Sunday. We are in regular communication with the hotel to add more rooms whenever these two dates begin to fill up, but occasionally the booking rate can overtake us.
Please let us know if you are having trouble booking a room by emailing CarabasEvents@gmail.com

The 2023 Chicago Steampunk Exposition is being hosted at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg. This upscale hotel is a short drive from O’Hare International Airport with many facilities both in the hotel and surrounding it, plus FREE PARKING.