Steampunk NZ Festival attendees Ross McKay and T.S. Taylor, who goes by Miss Purple. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay). Photo: APPrefer us on GoogleThe small, rural town of Ōamaru, New Zealand, has become an unlikely world capital for the retro futuristic genre of steampunk.Over a span of four days each year, a steampunk festival draws thousands of airship captains, Victorian inventors and make-believe aristocrats as they show off costumes and personas they have spent months or even years creating.The event takes place on a preserved Victorian street in Ōamaru, population 14,000, a town on New Zealand’s South Island that has embraced its designation as a steampunk hub.Steampunk, a term coined in the 1980s, mixes Victorian aesthetics with science fiction oddity and allows participants to imagine a parallel universe in which the age of steam continued to the present day, fuelling invention and discovery. The genre prizes recycled materials and self-made creations, which leads participants to learn sewing and various other crafts and trades so they can produce the finest and strangest outfits they can imagine.A participant reacts as he marches in a parade at the Steampunk NZ Festival. Photo: APThe genre allows for fantastical rewriting of Victorian social conventions, offering a space where anything goes. Brass weapons with children’s ray guns hidden inside, leather hip holsters containing bone china tea cups and saucers and extravagantly tall headpieces are popular.Eccentric activities at the festival include teapot racing and parasol duelling and a parade of elaborately clothed participants drawing hundreds of spectators.An attendee at the Steampunk NZ Festival walks through the Victorian precinct in Ōamaru. Photo: APSteampunk NZ Festival chair Lea Campbell, dressed as her steampunk persona Dusty Traveller. Photo: APRyleigh Shepherd competes in a parasol duelling contest. Photo: APSteampunk NZ Festival attendee Carl Yates, dressed as his steampunk persona Sir Gideon Steamcrank. Photo: APParticipants walk in a parade at the Steampunk NZ Festival. Photo: APSteampunk NZ Festival attendees Juliet Thorn and Greg Thorn, dressed as their steampunk personas Lady Sarsaparilla Ovabyte and Captain Bob McSpoon. Photo: APParticipants march in a parade at the Steampunk NZ Festival. Photo: APSteampunk NZ Festival co-founder Helen Jansen. Photo: APSteampunk NZ Festival attendee Alan Bryan, wearing a coat he made from old ties. Photo: APLukas Hazlehurst drives a remote-controlled vehicle around an obstacle course during a teapot racing contest. Photo: APSteampunk NZ Festival attendee Darrell Jeffries. Photo: APSteampunk NZ Festival co-founders Iain Clark, who goes by Agent Darling, and Helen Jansen walk in a parade at the annual event in Ōamaru. Photo: APSteampunk NZ Festival attendees Fiona Hilton, left, Sandy Jones and Priscilla Martin, right. Photo: APArtist Martin Horspool poses in his store at the Victorian precinct in Ōamaru. Photo: APAttendees participate in a parade at the Steampunk NZ Festival in Ōamaru. Photo: APSteampunk NZ Festival attendee Ross McKay, dressed as his steampunk persona, Captain Roscoe Dangerfield, Inspector of Nuisances to Her Majesty Queen Victoria III. Photo: APA participant rides a tractor during a parade at the Steampunk NZ Festival. Photo: AP