Santa’s big entrance in Dannevirke
Dannevirke’s Christmas Parade on Saturday December 1 certainly started the summer in style.
Forty two floats were led by the Dannevirke Brass Band and 17 Leisure Marching teams, creating a happy and colourful scene on High Street.
There were lots of decorated floats and more children involved than for many years, and floats with music to share the festive sounds.
A large crowd filled out onto the street in the centre of town and stuck around for the draw of the Stay Calm Shop Locally winners by the clock tower.
Parade organiser Suresh Patel said he was very pleased with the range and detail of the floats and its marshalling by Dannevirke Host Lions, who also built Santa’s Float.
He thought the crowd was as big as last year, having driven in the parade for 35 years he is now an experienced assessor of numbers.
Nobody envied the judges their task of picking the five category winners and they needed until Monday to decide.
These results were revealed at the Dannevirke Services and Citizens Club before a crowd of 60 hopefuls at 5.15pm.
KB Ford won the Champion Christmas float, and the People’s Choice went to the Fantasy Cave (by one vote).
These are the winners and runners-up: Champion Christmas float, KB Ford.
Best Children’s float, Busy Bees, runner-up, First Year’s Preschool.
Best Business float, Turton’s Partnership, runner-up, Melissa Martin Dance School. Best Christmas-themed float, Ruahine School, runner-up, Dannevirke Fantasy Cave. Most Original float, Allo! Allo! No runner-up in this category. People’s choice award, Dannevirke Fantasy Cave.
■ More pictures in next week’s Bush Telegraph Christmas Supplement.