Steampunk Festival 2023 was a splendid event.
Lots of people participated, and more came to watch. Everyone enjoyed the festival and appreciated the amazing costumes. You could see the dedication of all who participated; their costumes were very creative.
Steampunk is … a joyous fantasy of the past, allowing us to revel in a nostalgia for what never was. It is a literary playground for adventure, spectacle, drama, escapism and exploration. But most of all it is fun!
– George Mann
This festival is organized every year in Oamaru, New Zealand. It is a coastal town on the eastern coast of New Zealand’s South Island.
The story goes that the Steampunk festival idea started with the Iain Clark exhibition, a “bronze beer mug.” The exhibition was a success, and it stimulated the imagination of many. It originated the first “League of Victorian Imagineers Steampunk exhibition, Tomorrow As It Used To Be, held at Oamaru Forrester Gallery.
The Steampunk Festival lasted five days. It has several activities throughout the weekend. The first day is to meet and greet. On the second day in the evening is the grand opening of Steampunk Street Night and variety show. Saturday, the third day in the morning, is the parade. The parade is a must to watch. Fun to see all the costumes and devices that people created for the parade. You can see more details on EVENTS | Steampunk Org NZ
Steampunk Street Parade
This year’s Steampunk Street Parade theme featuring was “Transported.” The parade had a colorful array of costumes and machines and such.
This is the first great festival since the global pandemic. The festival was shut down in the previous year, but it is now trying to regain the popularity it had before the pandemic.
So this year’s theme of “Transported” sees the return of the Steampunk Festival Grand Parade. This year, crowds saw steampunk vehicles not seen before —Brand new inventory for this new opening.
It’s estimated that 3,000 people came to watch the parade. Participants are mostly out of town, like Christchurch, Wellington, Invercargill, Dunedin, and Australia.
I noticed that the participants age were middle-aged or older. It might be a festival for grown-ups, but there was also a younger steampunk following. I think we might, in the future, have younger people excited with ideas flowing freely to form unexpected connections that create new technologies and innovations in the steampunk world.
“There is no beauty without some strangeness”
– Edgar Allen Poe
The idea behind steampunk comes from Victorian-era sci-fi writers such as Jules Verne and his fabulous tales of the submarine Nautilus and The Time Machine by HG Wells. These adventures conquered space on the page almost a century before Russia and America went into orbit.
The Steampunk is a science fiction genre with steam-powered machinery features from the 19th century. Steampunk is the result of our history and fantasy together, creating amazing stories like the movies “The League of Extraordinary Gentleman” or ” Wild Wild West.”
After The Parade
After the parade, we could get to know the participants, take their pictures, and enjoy the steampunk ambiance.
Steampunk Market
Steampunk Market was held at Mitchell Hall. In this market, we can find good vintage clothing, original and creative home decor, fantastic hats, and spectacular jewelry.
Steampunk Festival 2023 was an absolutely dazzling experience. I definitely recommend coming and watching, and why not participate? After all, we all have time machines… they are called memories! Come and make your own.
Thank you for reading🚂