Heavens open for Christmas parade
There were quad bikes blasting carols, officials on Segways, and rollerskaters heading through the Z forecourt.
And then the rain came.
It swept over as parade participants – and spectators – lined up for Hamilton’s First Credit Union Christmas Parade yesterday afternoon.
But it wasn’t enough to stop the 2017 cavalcade from making its way through the city.
Though parents of youngsters might have been hoping for sun, an overcast day had advantages for some of the parade participants.
Bill Haagh, for example, was dressed up as a kiwifruit and lugging a sousaphone weighing about 7 kilograms.
He and fellow musicians from Guggemusik Auckland joined the parade – some clad in kiwifruit costumes, others dressed as kiwi birds.
‘‘Fortunately we’ve got an overcast day. That’s good for us. A bit of cool air’s nice.
‘‘Last year it was sunshine and it was sweltering.’’
Heat’s also a problem if you’re wearing a fluffy pink suit and riding a Harley-Davidson.
That was the case for Allan Fursdom, a rider for CareVets Charitable Foundation Trust. How hot was it in the suit? ‘‘Very. Even on a day like this,’’ he said.
A couple of years ago parade day was stinking hot and he had to lie down for about quarter of an hour at the end.
But it’s worth it: ‘‘[The trust is] a good purpose. One hundred per cent goes … to the animals.’’
Kids love the fluffy pink motorbikers too – something Fursdom knows from being in at least three previous Hamilton parades.
He and a fellow rider did a dressrehearsal run around Hamilton before yesterday’s parade and got their share of toots.
There was plenty for punters in the parade, including nuns on bikes, a blue and white-uniformed Falun Dafa band, full-skirted sequence dancers, and a Christmas wrapcovered cow figure on a trailer.
The annual parade is organised by the Hamilton Christmas Charitable Trust, which also organises the giant tree in Garden Place and Carols by Candlelight.