After a public outcry when Tourism Waitaki pulled the pin on the opening Friday night event for the weekend, two community meetings on Sunday drew about 30 people who began planning for a replacement event to be organised by the Steampunk NZ Trust.
With just four weeks before the Queen's Birthday weekend event, Steampunk NZ Trust trustee and festival director Helen Jansen said sponsors and volunteers were still required, but she was ``fairly confident'' the new event would be ``at least as good as we've had in the past''.
``Or [it could be] possibly more exciting - because of the energy of the community that wants to see it happen and because there's been offers of help from various parts of the country. And, I'm an eternal optimist,'' Ms Jansen said.
``I'm fairly sure there will be fire twirlers - we've got offers of fire twirlers from a couple of places.
``There will be entertainers, there will be music, it will be for Oamaru, by Oamaru. And if other people are generous enough to come from out of town to offer their services, then Oamaru should have the generosity to accept it.''
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said the Waitaki District Council would back the event. Its executive committee had an economic development fund that could be used for the ``placeholder'' event.
``From a council point of view, we determined early on we want to step in, and if the community effort was going to be there to put something together, we would step in with some appropriate funding,'' Mr Kircher said.
He said the amount of funding available had not been determined ``but it will definitely make sure that it happens''.
``For me it's important that ... we have a good-quality event,'' he said.
``I'd rather we pay a bit more and get a better-quality event, than to just say here's `X' dollars.
``What's come through is there is considerable economic benefit for the area. As well as being a great event for locals ... we have a lot of people coming to Oamaru either for the evening or for the weekend.''
Ms Jansen said Tourism Waitaki had offered to share its planning with the trust.
