Steam-powered spectacle takes over downtown Fergus

Gears were turning in Fergus, Ont. Saturday for the first annual Cogs and Clockwork Steampunk Festival.

The event featured fashion shows, teapot races, vendors and plenty of retrofuturistic style.

“I like to describe steampunk as Victorian futuristic, so if we hadn’t taken electricity into the future and we just stuck with steam power,” event organizer Tony Deluca explains. “So well-dressed Victorian clothing with 1950s style ray guns.”

“It’s an opportunity for us to show our flair.”

Cosplayer Paul Bastien says many people create their outfits from thrift store finds.

“That’s the nice thing about steampunk is that anything pretty much goes,” Bastien says.

Anna Robertson, who was at her first steampunk festival, spent several months putting her costume together.

“Who doesn’t love a top hat and cloak,” she says.

“I like to describe steampunk as Victorian futuristic, so if we hadn’t taken electricity into the future and we just stuck with steam power,” event organizer Tony Deluca explains.(Brandon Guitar/CTV Kitchener)

Teapot races, where competitors pilot a small remote-controlled teapot car through an obstacle course, were one of the highlights of the day.

“Bribing judges is a must-do thing if you want to get a good shot at winning,” explains racer Andy ‘Sir Thomas Nigel Tinkerton’ Moses.

Vendor Candace Lortie of Candyfloss Top Hats says the festival is an exchange of information and creativity and she hopes to see it continue in the future.

“All the people that have put energy into their outfits, I love seeing that – that keeps me going,” Lortie says.