Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention 2022

The Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention (WWWC), one of the largest steampunk gatherings in the U.S., announced dates and a new venue for next year’s event. It will be held March 3-6, 2022, at the Westward Look Wyndham Grand Resort and Spa, in Tucson, Arizona, about 10 miles north of downtown. This will be the 10th edition of the convention as an in-person event.

The theme will be “Over the Rainbow,” which was slated to be the theme for the 2021 convention in March. That was before the event was cancelled due to COVID-19. The organizers announced the theme shortly after the 2020 convention, inviting attendees to “put on your rose-colored goggles and help us transform black and brown steampunk into trendy, technicolor vision!”

The 2020 convention, held March 5-8, was the year’s last major steampunk gathering in the U.S., as the COVID-19 pandemic soon forced other events to be cancelled.

The WWWC organizers staged a virtual event in place of the 2021 convention, which was originally set to be held March 4-7.

The biggest change for 2022 is the new venue, an Old West-themed resort in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The 80-acre property was originally a family home built in 1912. It includes more than 20,000 feet of event space, and the WWWC organizers said it will allow them to set up a dedicated indoor vendor hall. Reservations for hotel rooms are now open.

Previous conventions were held at Old Tucson, a movie studio and theme park west of downtown. That setting was a major draw for the event, but it was closed indefinitely in September 2020 largely due to the economic impact of COVID 19.

The Pima County government, which owns the property, is currently seeking a new operator. The county announced in April that two companies had submitted paperwork to be considered and one was subsequently invited to submit a formal proposal.

The WWWC organizers noted that despite plans to reopen the park, they did not expect it would happen in time to host the 2022 convention. And they pointed to one advantage of hosting the event at a hotel: “For the first time, you will be able to enjoy everything Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention has to offer, without a long drive.”

See the WWWC website and Facebook page for more info and updates.

Reprinted from : https://steampunk-explorer.com/news/wwwc-reveals-dates-2022-and-new-venue