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The Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention (wildwestcon.com), colloquially referred to as Wild Wild West Con, is an active annual steampunk convention held in Tucson. Social Media | Most Recent Program Book Covers | History | Notes | Other Documents | All Program Book Covers BackgroundWild Wild West Steampunk Convention was started in 2011 by Ryan McMann, who ran the first year's event. He handed over the operation of the second year to Jason Drotman and Diana Given of the Arizona Steampunk Society (steamaz.com), which happened after a gap year in which he tested the waters of Las Vegas instead. They then bought the event from him outright and ran it together until 2019 as Steampunk Society, LLC. Drotman became the sole owner in 2020, through Steamheart, LLC, with his wife Deena Jo Drotman joining him in 2022. The convention has had a lot of consistency over the years, with favourite events finding regular slots. One recent change (in 2018) was to move from two evening concerts to one, but to bulk up the programming at the host hotel (not at the venue) at the same time. Many guests also return, not always as guests, helping to build a community feel. Each year has had its own theme, with that theme evolving over multiple events, and there's always a new logo to reflect that. These themes are often interactive, such as year 6, which involved electing the President of WWWC (Gentleman Robot won); or years 3 and 7, which tasked attendees with voting for their preferences in "Land vs. Sea" and "Dinosaurs vs. Robots" respectively. While the first nine Wild Wild West Cons were held at Old Tucson Studios, a Hollywood film set since 1940, outside Tucson, the tenth had to be at a hotel instead because Old Tucson had closed down during the COVID pandemic. The choice was the Westward Look Resort, which was the convention host hotel at the time. While Old Tucson had reopened, under new management, by the time Wild Wild West Con announced for year 11, terms couldn't be agreed so the venue changed to Casino del Sol, which is on Pascua Yaqui land. |
Click on the images below to open larger versions.
Cover art (left to right) was by Natalia Lopez, grandfailure and Brian Kesinger.
Chronology of Arizona Conventions | Index of Program Books
| # | Date | Location | Chair(s) | Theme | Bands | Book | Web | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2011 4 Mar 6 Mar |
Old Tucson Studios Tucson |
Ryan McMann | Abney Park The Strand The Unextraordinary Gentlemen |
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| 2 | 2013 8 Mar 10 Mar |
Old Tucson Studios Tucson |
Jason Drotman Diana Given |
Abney Park Steam Powered Giraffe Professor Elemental The Silent Stills |
 11 MB |
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| 3 | 2014 7 Mar 9 Mar |
Old Tucson Studios Tucson |
Jason Drotman Diana Given |
Land vs. Sea | Professor Elemental Steam Powered Giraffe The Nathaniel Johnstone Band The Cog is Dead |
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| 4 | 2015 5 Mar 8 Mar |
Old Tucson Studios Tucson |
Jason Drotman Diana Given |
Mad Science | Abney Park Frenchy and the Punk Steam Powered Giraffe The Cog is Dead |
14 MB |
||
| 5 | 2016 4 Mar 6 Mar |
Old Tucson Studios Tucson |
Jason Drotman Diana Given |
Steampunk Around the World | The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing Peculiar Pretzelmen Steam Powered Giraffe Dry River Yacht Club |
16 MB |
||
| 6 | 2017 3 Mar 5 Mar |
Old Tucson Studios Tucson |
Jason Drotman Diana Given |
Election | Celtica Frenchy and the Punk The Cog is Dead The Mission Creeps |
14 MB |
||
| 7 | 2018 2 Mar 4 Mar |
Old Tucson Studios Tucson |
Jason Drotman Diana Given |
Robots vs. Dinosaurs | Abney Park DEVM |
13 MB |
||
| 8 | 2019 8 Mar 10 Mar |
Old Tucson Studios Tucson |
Jason Drotman Diana Given |
Galactic Steampunk Federation | Professor Elemental Tommy Spase & The Alchemists |
16 MB |
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| 9 | 2020 5 Mar 8 Mar |
Old Tucson Studios Tucson |
Jason Drotman | Magic & Mystery | Poison Garden The Marquis of Vaudeville John Sprocket |
19 MB |
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| 9.5 | 2021 4 Mar 7 Mar |
Virtual Zoom |
Jason Drotman | 1 | ||||
| 10 | 2022 3 Mar 6 Mar |
Westward Look Resort Tucson |
Jason Drotman Deena Jo Drotman |
Over the Rainbow | 11 MB |
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| 11 | 2023 9 Mar 12 Mar |
Casino del Sol Tucson |
Jason Drotman Deena Jo Drotman |
The Roaring Twenties | 11 MB |
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| 12 | 2024 29 Feb 3 Mar |
Casino del Sol Tucson |
Jason Drotman Deena Jo Drotman |
Heroes vs. Villains |  |
Notes
Other DocumentsWild Wild West Steampunk Convention 1
Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention 3
Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention 4
Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention 6
Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention 7
Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention 9
Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention 10All Program Book CoversClick on the images below to open larger versions.
Cover art was by Joe Benitez (year 2), Brian Kesinger (years 3-6, 9), Casey Brose (year 7), Jason Drotman (year 8), grandfailure (year 10), Natalia Lopez (year 11). |
Last update: 29th September, 2023
