‘Tis the season
Courtney Walls takes a break from getting the Temuka Pharmacy dressed up for Friday night’s Christmas parade in the town.
For the first time in many years the Temuka Christmas Parade will be held in the evening.
The annual parade on Friday will begin at 7pm – a change from its usual Saturday, 12 noon slot – in a move coordinator Lorna Double said was made to give families who may normally have been playing sport in the weekend a chance to be at the festive event.
‘‘We used to have it on a Friday night years ago,’’ Double said.
‘‘Someone suggested we hold it on a Friday night again, and we decided to do that this year to see if it works.
‘‘One of the things is a lot of children, and their parents, play sport on a Saturday, so we thought Friday night would be a good opportunity to see if they could come too.’’
Double said people were welcome to have stalls on the town square, as part of the 27th parade, which usually includes a market, with the area already set up for the town’s recently established Saturday market.
So far about ‘‘20-something’’ registrations had been taken for parade floats, and Double expected this to get up to about 40.
‘‘There will be all sorts coming in at the last minute.’’
Double said that after a disrupted year with Covid-19, people appeared more eager to get involved in community events.
‘‘The parade is always a great community gathering and we hope people come out and support it.’’
Double said pipe and brass bands would be part of the parade, with entertainment on the night also provided by Timaru band Double Talk and some of their students.
The Temuka parade is always the first Christmas parade on the South Canterbury calendar, with organisers working together so none clashed, Double said.
There is also a shop window competition, with the winners of that, and the annual Big Spender competition announced following the parade.
‘‘We are now just hoping the weather will be good.’’
Other parade dates include: Geraldine on December 4, Waimate on December 5, Timaru on December 6 and Pleasant Point on December 18.