Utopia Armory

Public Facebook post, Jan 25, 2018

Hi there, Utopia friends!

We’re writing this because it would be wrong to stay silent. In the past few days, dozens of people have shared stories of abuse, sexual harassment, inappropriate behavior, theft, and otherwise unacceptable treatment from Jeff Mach Events, and from Jeff Mach in particular. He runs some of our favorite events, like the Geeky Kink Event, the Steampunk World’s Fair, and Wicked Faire, where we love to see all of our favorite customers and friends each year. We loved the atmosphere and intent behind the events, and how it seemed to be a safe and fun place to be, both as a vendor and as a patron.

We are, of course, shocked and saddened by the information that’s coming to light on multiple platforms, and we are doubly saddened to inform everyone that Wicked Faire will be our last Jeff Mach Event. By vending at an event, we are implicitly inviting our fans and customers to attend, and explicitly endorsing the event, and that’s not an option anymore. What’s most important to us is the comfort and safety of all of you, and by inviting you to come to events where so many people have had their comfort and safety threatened, we’d be doing you a tremendous wrong. We know we’ve been a staple at Jeff Mach Events over the last decade, but that’s not a good enough reason to stay at an event where so many people have been hurt.

If you’ll be at Wicked Faire this weekend, we genuinely hope that you have a fulfilling time, and we will be happy to see you! We intend to show our usual friendly faces, and we can’t wait to see each and every one of you.  We encourage you, as always, to come see us at any of our other events throughout the year, or at our home show at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. Going forward, however, we will find other events to vend on those weekends, where we can be more sure that the customers who come to see us will have a good and safe time outside of our shop, not just within it.

Thank you for listening, be safe, and enjoy yourself.