17th Annual Edwardian Ball at 1 Edwardian Ball Festival at Regency Center Grand Ballroom

The 17th Annual Edwardian Ball takes place on Friday and Saturday, January 20 & 21, 2017 at the Regency Center in honor the late-great macabre cult author, comic artist, illustrator and cartoonist Edward Gorey.

Edward Gorey is the ground-breaking, genre–defying and critically-acclaimed graphic novelist who is credited with influencing Charles “Addams Family” Addams, Lemony Snicket, Neil Gaiman (Coraline and Day of the Dead), Rob Reger (Emily the Strange), and Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, and Beetlejuice).

The Edwardian Ball presents a unique blend of live music, theatre, fashion, circus, fine art, riveting stage shows, literature, ballroom dancing, DJs, and character play in an enticing and whirlwind alternative universe extravaganza. This multi-city, multi-media exposition of the eccentric and esoteric, has grown over the past sixteen years from an underground club party into an internationally recognized festival of the arts, drawing attendees from all over the world, operating with the blessing of The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust. ...

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The 17th Annual Edwardian Ball takes place on Friday and Saturday, January 20 & 21, 2017 at the Regency Center in honor the late-great macabre cult author, comic artist, illustrator and cartoonist Edward Gorey.

Edward Gorey is the ground-breaking, genre–defying and critically-acclaimed graphic novelist who is credited with influencing Charles “Addams Family” Addams, Lemony Snicket, Neil Gaiman (Coraline and Day of the Dead), Rob Reger (Emily the Strange), and Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, and Beetlejuice).

The Edwardian Ball presents a unique blend of live music, theatre, fashion, circus, fine art, riveting stage shows, literature, ballroom dancing, DJs, and character play in an enticing and whirlwind alternative universe extravaganza. This multi-city, multi-media exposition of the eccentric and esoteric, has grown over the past sixteen years from an underground club party into an internationally recognized festival of the arts, drawing attendees from all over the world, operating with the blessing of The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust.

Other darkly decadent and delightful attractions include the award-winning Edwardian Vendor Bazaar, Portrait Booth, Museum of Wonders, locally distilled absinthe cocktails, Saturday Afternoon Tea Service, steam-powered art and installations, parlour games, alluring sideshows, and much more. All ages are welcome in this kindly interactive environment.

Those who relish community participation and a desire to create and perform as Edward Gorey characters in the chapters of their own individualistic plays, will find their home in these darkly gothic, romanticized, gilded and gentile Neo-Victorian and Edwardian-era parties that imagine an alternative distant past which intertwines with an elegantly re-imagined future.

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