Wanna Get Away From  All of Civilization?

Cons are nothing new. From MegaCon to Comic-Con and everywhere in between, people getting dressed up and congregating in one place to celebrate their unique passions is old hat. But where a renaissance fair might be expected, an entire weekend dedicated to the post-apocalyptic world might seem a bit odd.

The people behind Wasteland Weekend, don’t find it odd at all. Getting together once a year in the California desert, these cosplayers have found a way to celebrate the iconography of the movies in the Mad Max series and other end-times visions.

Wasteland Weekend

In its earliest form, Mad Max appreciation events took the form of RoadWar USA. Some cars raced along a California road next to a tanker truck. It was fun, but not exactly the kind of immersive experience patrons were looking for. If you wanted to take a weekend and live like you were in the world created in the films, you’d need cars, a desert, and some fireworks.

In 2010, 400 attendees gathered in the desert for what would be the first Wasteland Weekend.

But What Is Wasteland Weekend?

For starters, Wasteland Weekend is massive. Since its 2010 debut, it has blossomed from 400 attendees to well over a thousand. It’s four days of escapism where attendees can be whatever or whoever they want in the scene of the post-apocalyptic world.

People come from all over to show off their imaginative costumes and inventive car designs. For someone who restores cars for fun or for a living, outfitting a vehicle for the end of days is like a dream, or maybe a nightmare, come true; the only limits are your imagination.

Beyond the cosplay, the weekend is about people enjoying themselves safely in the world they enjoy best. Much like someone might put on robes, grab their wand, and head to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, at Wasteland Weekend, you put on your armor, grab your decked out car, and head into the Thunderdome.