Top, photos by Michelle Beahm, Sound Publishing.
Above, photos by Joe Teeples.

PORT GAMBLE — “Steampunk is alternate history. It’s whatever you want it to be.”

Jim Wingren has “been doing steampunk for five or six years” with his wife, and that’s what it means to him.

His wife, Chris, owner of Mrs. Muir’s House of Ghosts and Magic, organized the SteamPort Gamble Festival Aug. 29, the first steampunk festival in Port Gamble ever.

“We definitely want to do it again next year,” Wingren said. “This year is shaking out a lot of the bugs and figuring things out.”

With a windstorm hitting Kitsap County on the Saturday of the festival, there were a lot of unforeseen “bugs,” too.

The power went out.

Trees fell over.

Outdoor events had to be canceled or moved inside.

Scheduled talks were canceled, the tin-type photography attraction was canceled and some people who planned on going chose to stay home.

But the festival was still a success, and Wingren said they plan to do it again next year.

“It’s kind of a chance to dress up and be somebody else for the weekend,” Wingren said of steampunk. “It’s Halloween the other 364 days of the year.”

David and Heidi Rynning, from Renton, along with their dog Gem, have been attending steampunk events for years.

“We like any excuse to put our gear on and come and hang around other steampunks,” David Rynning said. “We’re not new to this.”

Their adventures in steampunk started after spotting an advertisement for an event in Seattle a few years ago.

“We decided to go and check it out,” David Rynning said. “We decided it was really fun, and we’ve been doing it since then.”

Heidi Rynning said she and her husband “know half the crowd here” from past steampunk events.

To them, steampunk is “Victorian Science Fiction.”

“We’re re-imagining the world like it would’ve been if they didn’t have super conductors and microchips and everything,” David Rynning said. “Back when things were hand built and user friendly.”

“The world that could have been,” Heidi Rynning added. “Cause we can.”

Another steampunk veteran, Gage Durig, said he came because of “great people, steampunk, costumes.”

He’s been to steampunk gatherings in the past, but said this is the first “serious one that’s been actually professionally coordinated.”

One draw for him was, “The whole town’s kind of in on it.”

Festival vendor Sharon Greany was selling steampunk costume pieces and, about midway through the day, said the festival was going well for her.

“I think we’re getting a good turnout for their first time,” Greany said.

A lot of her pieces were collected after costuming local plays set in the Victorian Era. Some of the pieces she collected back in college.

“I really love the Victorian era,” Greany said.

As Wingren described it, steampunk is whatever each person wants it to be.

“There’s all sorts of different flavors of steampunk,” Wingren said. “There’s the whole ‘Mad Max’ kind of thing. People are doing futuristic or apocalyptic kinds of things. Then there’s the hard-core Victorians. There’s the western type, people do that … I’ve actually done it all.

“Sometimes, I’ll have my mustache all waxed up with a monocle and a top hat and frock coat and be all dressed up, completely Victorian.

“I’ll go sort of apocalyptic Western at times. I’ve got a big blaster that I carry with me. The great thing is, it’s completely open.”

Above all, Wingren said festivals like SteamPort Gamble is “just the chance to dress up and be somebody else for the weekend … and play with cool toys.”