Amelia Cosgrove looks at two major events coming to Lincoln in the next week or so and then asks local businesses if they really are a boost to the Visitor Economy.
Steampunk
Weekend at the Asylum, the world’s largest Steampunk gathering transforms Lincoln’s medieval streets into a theatre of Victorian fantasy, science fiction and clockwork imagination.
Whether you arrive in Lincoln between the August 27 - 31 in full Steampunk regalia or simply come to watch the spectacle from the sidelines, Lincoln’s Asylum is part festival, part fashion parade and part science-fiction fever dream.
Steampunk is deliberately subjective: there is no single way to do it, only the freedom to decide what fun and creativity looks like to you - I like to think of it as Lincoln’s own Met Gala - the theme is Victorian science fiction, and the dress code is limited only by your imagination.
Across art, literature, music and fashion, creativity takes centre stage, with elaborate costumes, eccentric characters and a distinctly theatrical sense of camaraderie possessing the city for the weekend.
Tour of Britain
And not long after the last corset is packed away, another very different occasion arrives – the biggest free-to-watch spectator event in the UK.
On September 2, the Tour of Britain comes to Lincoln for the first time, with the city hosting the start and finish of Stage One.
If Steampunk turns Lincoln into a Victorian science-fiction fantasy, this Tour brings a very different kind of crowd: cycling fans, spectators and a lot of Lycra lovers.
For Josie Rossington at Follie, the appeal is the atmosphere: “I’m really looking forward to showing off our part of Lincoln to an international audience,” she says, hoping businesses will embrace the occasion with window displays and bunting.
On the surface, the events couldn't be more different, yet both give people a reason to come to Lincoln - and both have the potential to turn spectacle into something much more valuable - visitors staying, spending and seeing the city in a new light.
But what do these spectacles actually mean behind the sales counter?
I popped into The Visitor Information Centre as a pulse point for Lincoln’s visitor economy.
"Visitor numbers amplify in the city with key events that have a catchment of not just the local or regional area but have a national and even international appeal," said VIC manager Michele Sims.
Tellingly, retail sales rise after Steampunk ends, not just during it. "Steampunk starts early before the advertised event date and spills out after as well, into early in the next week," Michele says. The costumes are the spectacle, but the stragglers are the economics.
Sasha at Lindum Books orders in extra stock specifically for the festival, meaning the sales bump is reliable enough to plan around.
And at The Fabric Quarter, you’ll see it’s practically turned into the Steampunk dressing room.
Amy Claridge and Annette Faisey have pinned up split trousers, re-attached parrots, fixed wings, and tied on wayward hats. "It turns out there is a lot you can do with a safety pin and a length of ribbon," Amy joked.
Interestingly, Annette says the faces come back. Local and international visitors return to the shop year after year - proof that at least some of Steampunk's crowd isn't passing through once but choosing Lincoln again and again.
Asking Lucie Nock at The Cheese Society what Steampunk looks like from behind the shop counter she tells the story of a family who arrived dressed as foxes. "I never thought I'd say out loud that I'd just served a family of foxes with cheese," she says.
But there's a steadier pattern behind the anecdote: ‘‘As we are a specialist shop, visitors tend to seek us out, so we always see a positive response from events like these."
Always being the key word as it describes a habit, not a one-off.
Do the visitors stay?
A shopkeeper, cheese monger, fabric retailer, restaurateur, hotelier or attraction all experience the same event from a different side of the till. But they're part of the same bigger question: can an event turn a visitor into a future visitor?
For Steampunk, not quite - sales fade rather than switch off overnight.
At The Fabric Quarter, Annette's recurring customers are the closest thing here to proof, not just hope, that Steampunk brings some of the same people back, on purpose.
But yes, one shop's word isn't a spreadsheet, so it'd be an overreach to say the whole festival converts every visitor - but it's a real data point.
Josie from Follie has been getting ready to welcome visitors to both events: "There'll be people watching the race from all over the country and beyond, with Lincoln and Lincolnshire as the backdrop, that kind of exposure is incredibly valuable."
A Steampunk visitor might come for the costumes, but leave having seen Lincoln as a place where creativity, individuality and community are celebrated. And it’s also worth remembering the world's largest Steampunk gathering isn’t something the city has borrowed from London for one weekend – if we treat the event and its supporters right it could continue to be the home of this retro-futuristic festival.
Of the Britain’s biggest bike race Josie is equally optimistic: “The Lloyds Tour of Britain might be the reason people are coming to Lincoln, but Lincoln will be the reason they'll want to return."
The Tour has its own long game: it could inspire a new generation of cycling enthusiasts, but it also puts Lincoln on the map as a place that can host national sport, not just watch it on TV. If Stage One goes well, this September needn't be a one-off - it could be the opening argument for hosting more, similar events.
So, whether you arrive in full Victorian regalia, with a bicycle, or simply as a curious spectator, the real test is whether you leave as a one-off visitor - or a Lincoln convert.
Steampunk picture by Matt Phillips for Hello Lincoln; Tour Britain photo courtesy of Cycling News and Josie Rossington is pictured celebrating the 20th anniversary of Follie in Lincoln’s Bailgate.