File Photo During last year’s Vandalia Con at the Blennerhassett Hotel in Parkersburg, Jordan Kennedy-Rea, left, of Bridgeport, and Chris George, right, of Independence, W.Va., took part in a tea duel where the object was to make your opponent laugh or blink before the cookie that had been soaking in tea was limp. Shelly Dusic, center, health information specialist with the West Virginia Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program and the organizer of the Vandalia-Con Steampunk Convention, was the referee.

This year’s event will be May 26-28 at the Blennerhassett Hotel at Fourth and Juliana streets in downtown Parkersburg, featuring three days of activities and attractions.

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

Shelly Dusic, health information specialist with the West Virginia Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program and the event organizer for Vandalia-Con, said all proceeds from the event are 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. Bonnie’s Bus services nearly 2,000 women annually, and helps to eliminate the barriers of affordability, lack of transportation, interference with work time, and fear of hospitals.

File Photo Cindy Cookson, of Portsmouth, knitted a number of items used in the clothes worn by those in the steampunk movement at last year’s Vandalia-Con in Parkersburg.

Dusic said the bus will not be present at this year’s Vandalia Con as it was the three previous years. The bus is undergoing renovations and she decided not to bring it to Parkersburg this year so that work could be completed sooner.

Tickets will be available at the door or online through the convention website. Tickets are $25 for a day pass for adults and $20 for a day pass for ages 15 and under. A weekend pass is $50 for adults and $40 for children and will cover all convention activities.

The VIP Pass is $100 and includes access to all events at the hotel, all special ticket events, and the VIP room on Saturday night.

Dusic said the response for the first three years 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 received a very positive response from the vendors, presenters and others active in putting on the event, with many especially loving the Blennerhassett Hotel as a venue.

“We’re absolutely looking forward to it,” she said of this year’s event.

For a second year, the Vandalia-Con Block Party has become the kickoff event on Friday. Admission is free to the block party, which will include a meeting from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. of the Regional Mountains of Hope WV State Cancer Coalition, a moving screening of “Someone You Love: The HPV Epidemic” and classes from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Open vending hours for the crafters and vendors will be 3-9 p.m.

There will be a concert from 9 p.m. to midnight on May 26. The entry fee is $10 or is included in Weekend and VIP passes.

This year’s convention will also feature musical entertainment by The Dead Flowers and Steam — or — The Specters of the Knox Mill. Guest artists will include: E.G. Gaddess, Mo Moeller, Rebecca Baygents Turk, Jade Myers, Gandersnitch the Goblin, Captain Lovelock, Karnevil, Travis Sivart and Professor Bubblemaker. There will also be a variety of classes and discussion panels during the convention.

Some special ticket events will include a Captain’s Tea Party, a Goblin Tea Party, the Fabulous Flea Circus, Steampunk Storytime with Captain Lovelock, Professor Phineas’s Hypnotic Adventures and the Karnevil Sideshow. All of the special ticket events are $10 admission, unless covered by a VIP pass.

On May 28, the vendors will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A Quick Draw Charity Tournament will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. using single-shot Nerf guns. The convention will end with closing ceremonies and awards at 2:30 p.m.