A collection of mechanical pixies is enthralling Dunedin children this Christmas.
The Pixietown scenes used to be the stars of Santa's Grottos, in department stores across the country. But some of the naughtier pixies escaped.
The village scenes will bring back fond memories for many parents and grandparents.
The hard-working little inhabitants of Pixietown have been delighting kids for more than 80 years, associated for many with a Kiwi Christmas.
"[For] a lot of Dunedin people it's quite nostalgic," says Peter Read, Toitu Otago Settlers Museum curator. "We're trying to get a new generation to come in and enjoy them as well. And they certainly are."
The first Pixietowns were built in the 1930s by Nelson man Fred Jones, who toured them around the country.
A factory was opened to build more of the mechanical creations, with some collections even travelling overseas.
Department store DIC kept the tradition going in Dunedin each Christmas until it closed its doors.
The collection was eventually auctioned off, with Toitu Settlers Museum taking over as annual host of Pixietown.
But there's also a second group of villagers, adopted by Outram collector Ray Beardsmore.
These country cousins include some of the more politically incorrect pixies, with one scene featuring a nudist camp.
"The little children that come in and they go, 'oh a nudist colony?'," Mr Bearsmore says. "In fact one lot came in and said, 'Oh my teacher wouldn't be very appreciative of this.' And well 'Why not?' 'Oh they haven't got any sun hats on.'"
Mr Beardsmore spent months repainting the tiny wooden characters and restoring the ageing mechanics that keep the pixies going.
"They're all just driven by curtain wires and wooden pulleys and cams and electric motors and big pulleys and small pulleys."
He believes it's that old-school charm that holds the fascination.
"I think it's that old clickety-clack, clickety-clack," Mr Beardsmore says. "And it's just like another little world that the children get absorbed in."
He has a few more scenes in storage in need of restoration, meaning there could be some new pixies to welcome by next Christmas.
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