Christmas to float in to Palmerston North
Up to 60 Christmas floats will parade through the centre of Palmerston North as Santa officially arrives in the city.
Carol Kelly, event co-ordinator for Kairanga Lions, who also organise the annual Fireworks Over the River, said a similar number of floats as last year had registered for the parade, which leaves from the Railway Land Reserve at 2pm on Sunday, and wends its way around the city centre and through The Square.
‘‘Logistically, any more than 60, and the parade gets too long to watch, and it snakes back on itself,’’ Kelly said.
Kairanga Lions have been working progressively on improving the quality of the procession by adding to the float pool, and will have provided eight floats over the years for the parade. ‘‘We’ve made a couple of new floats this year for primary schools and kindergartens that were struggling to get trucks for the kids to take part on.’’
One of the new floats features Santa’s Tracking Station – a giant globe with kindergarten kids dressed as elves sitting at Nasastyle desks tracking Santa on his trip around the world. On the other is a giant Christmas candelabra as a focal point for the school choirs of Our Lady of Lourdes and St Peter’s College.
Last year’s experiment of having the giant Central Energy Trust Arena screen in The Square so people enjoying the entertainers could watch the parade coming together won’t be repeated.
The Square-based Christmas festivities start on Saturday night with games, carols, competitions and performances based around the lighting of the city Christmas tree.
Performers will be onstage from 5pm to 9pm. Sunday’s parade day will open with the traditional Red Cross Christmas Fair at 9am, with further live entertainment from midday.