Christmas parade weathers rain
Santa took his sleigh for a ride around The Square in the Palmerston North Christmas parade, following a colourful procession including Chinese dancers, cheerleaders and unicyclists.
More than 10,000 people had been expected to turn up to watch them go through the central city on Sunday.
Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith said the parade benefited from a lot of new floats this year.
Organised by Kairanga Lions, the parade was made up of 60 business and community groups from around Palmerston North, and began on the Railway Land, then looped around The Square, before returning to where it had started.
The drizzle and occasional burst of rain couldn’t wash away the excitement of the thousands of kids crowding the route around The Square with their families.
Four-year-old Molly Chapman slipped her way to the front of the crowd, enthusiastically waving to each float, the pockets of her yellow raincoat slowly filling with the lollies and small gifts the performers handed out.
‘‘The Christmas parade is cool, cool,’’ she said.
Molly was excited to see Santa, but not half as much as she was to see a real live ‘‘pirate’’ near the