Watch City Steampunk Festival

Waltham, MA

Centered on Waltham’s beautiful Common at the corner of Main and Moody Streets, the Watch City Steampunk Festival is the great outdoor festival of the Steampunk genre—a cultural and social movement melding elements of Victorian-era history and fashion with retro-futuristic technology.

Watch City 2015 will featuring a broad array of theatrical and musical performers as well as clothing, jewelry, art, and food vendors. The Festival is will also include kids programming, making this most definitely a family friendly event, as well.

 An Update on the 2026 Watch City Steampunk Festival

The Watch City Steampunk Festival Committee and our sponsoring organization, the Downtown Waltham Partnership, have explored a variety of options for the 2026 Festival following the announcement of a four-hour time limit on events on Waltham Common.

We have decided that the best path forward for this year is to hold the event on Waltham Common on our original date, Saturday May 9th, from 12:00 noon to 4:00pm. (This does not include setup and teardown time.)

Vendors, performers, and community groups that have applied to join this year should look for messages from us soon. We recognize that such a short event may not make the trip worthwhile for some, and we completely understand if you withdraw your application.

Rest assured that we will look ahead to other options for 2027. Meanwhile we ask for your patience as we plan this year’s event. Thank you for your support.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the new time for the 2026 Watch City Steampunk Festival? The festival will take place on Saturday, May 9th, from 12 noon to 4:00pm, in its usual location on Waltham Common. This does not include setup, which will start in the morning; vendors and participants should watch for instructions from the Festival regarding timing. Teardown will begin at 4:00pm.

Why is the 2026 event only four hours long? The Mayor’s Office of the City of Waltham made a decision that applies to all events held on Waltham Common. Please see this announcement for more information: https://www.city.waltham.ma.us/home/news/please-see-an-attached-note-from-the-mayors-office-regarding-updated-policy-for-use-of-the

Did you look for another location in Waltham? We did, but nothing worked out for this year. We will take the rest of the year to investigate our options for 2027.

Did you look for another location outside of Waltham? No. Waltham is The Watch City, and this event is a project of the Downtown Waltham Partnership. We were never looking to move out of the city.

Will the theme still be “The Steampunk Games”? No. We don’t think we can do justice to that idea in four hours, so we’re saving it for the hope that in the future we’ll find a way to return to being a full-day event.

What will the new theme be? “Attack of the Time Pirates!” Yep, that’s right, Time Pirates have purloined three hours of our event! Where did those hours go? Well, that’s up to the rest of the City of Waltham! We would love to hear from other organizations and businesses in Waltham that already have planned or are willing to organize some sort of special event on Saturday May 9th after ours is over. Please give our attendees reasons to stay in Waltham (but not on Waltham Common) a bit longer! It doesn’t have to be free, and it doesn’t have to be steampunk-themed. You can reach out to us at info@watchcityfestival.com if you have an idea for something fun happening in Waltham on May 9th after our end time at 4:00pm, and we’ll add it to our list of where the “extra hours” can be found!

Is there anything we can do to help? Please spread the word about the change of hours so that people will know. Also, this reduction in hours will reduce our income, and if you can support us with a donation, that would help us keep this event free to the public. See the donation button near the bottom of our home page.