Photo by Wayne Towner John Gradwohl, left, as Professor Bubblemaker, worked on a miniature dirigible with Ava DeLong, right, of Wilmington, N.C., in a kids science workshop Saturday at the fifth annual Vandalia-Con Steampunk Convention at the Blennerhassett Hotel in Parkersburg.

PARKERSBURG — Top hats, cowboy hats, gears and goggles — along with a dose of cancer awareness — were the focus of the fifth annual Vandalia-Con Steampunk Convention held Friday and Saturday at the Blennerhassett Hotel in downtown Parkersburg.

Steampunk refers to science fiction and fantasy that is set in a Victorian or Industrial-Era setting.

Event organizer Shelly Dusic is policy and environmental change community clinic linkage specialist with the West Virginia Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program, said all proceeds from the event will be donated to the Diagnostic and Treatment Fund and Bonnie’s Bus, to ensure that breast and cervical cancer screening, diagnostic, and treatment resources are available to all West Virginia women who need them.

The programs are part of the West Virginia Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program.

Bonnie’s Bus is West Virginia’s only mobile mammography unit that travels throughout the state providing screening mammograms. Funds are available on the Bus to help cover the cost of mammography so that no woman over the age of 40 is turned away, she said.

Photo by Wayne Towner J.R. Whitcomb, with the Karnevil Sideshow, gives a whip demonstration at Bicentennial Park on Saturday afternoon as part of the Vandalia-Con Steampunk Convention in downtown Parkersburg.

Dusic said Bonnie Bus travels throughout the state for nine months each year and serves nearly 2,000 women annually. It helps to eliminate the barriers of affordability, lack of transportation, interference with work time, and fear of hospitals.

The new Bonnie’s Bus, which made its first visit to Vandalia-Con this weekend after undergoing improvements and renovations in 2017, is a 45-foot, state-of-the-art mobile mammography vehicle which offers three-dimensional digital mammograms and breast care education to women, she said.

Dusic said Vandalia-Con is unique among the various fundraisers held throughout the state in support of the Bonnie’s Bus program, but far from the only one. Other fundraisers range from formal parties to a sheepdog herding competition.

“I think about 16 percent of the bus funds come from volunteer programs like this,” she said.

“Mobile mammography has been such a godsend to so many people,” Dusic said.

Photo by Wayne Towner Bonnie’s Bus is a mobile mammography unit which travels throughout West Virginia offering screening mammograms and information about the West Virginia Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program.

In previous years, the event concluded on Sunday, but no activities were planned this year beyond Friday and Saturday, Dusic said.

Dusic said the response for the previous years and this past weekend has been were very positive with good attendance. The event has raised over $5,000 each year and has also raised awareness of the issues involving breast and cervical cancer in West Virginia. Dusic said she receives a very positive response each year from the vendors, presenters and others active in putting on the event, with many especially loving the Blennerhassett Hotel as a venue.

The two-day convention featured workshops, games, demonstrations, vendors, exhibitors, entertainment and other attractions at the hotel and the adjacent Bicentennial Park.

Brian West, with Rabin’s Relics, first came to Vandalia-Con three years ago to see if being a specialty vendor would be a viable business opportunity. After attending the Parkersburg event that time to sell jewelry and costume accessories, he went ahead and got a business license and has been traveling around the region since that time to various events, including returning to Vandalia-Con each year.

“This is a great event that supports a great cause,” West said of Vandalia-Con.

Photo by Wayne Towner Brian West, with Rabin’s Relics, offered a variety of jewelry and costume accessories for sale Saturday at the Vandalia-Con Steampunk Convention at the Blennerhassett Hotel.

Sheena DeLong and her daughter, Ava, traveled from Wilmington, N.C., to attend Vandalia-Con this weekend.

“I love it, this is fun. It’s just fun to dress up,” she said, adding she especially likes the purpose behind the event.

“I think anything that puts money towards a good cause is fantastic.”