Weather halts street parade
Katikati’s giant Christmas tree went up on Friday — in the rain. And the rain kept falling into Saturday which meant the Lions Club of Katikati faced having to cancel its annual Christmas Parade for the first time in 46 years.
Lions Parade organiser David Eddy said they have at times in the past gone ahead when the weather’s been touch and go, but on Saturday the weather was atrocious.
“We really had no alternative. It was really disappointing for a lot of people, but we don’t have any control over the weather.”
Planning for the parade starts six months out from the event.
“There is a huge amount of things behind the scenes that have to be done that people don’t see. The other problem is the route we take along mainstreet requires part of State Highway 2 to be closed.
“Next year we will look at a carry-over date and will have the planning in place for that,” he said.
David has been running the parade for all 46 years and is hoping to step down now. He said he was pleased with the number of registrations for participants in the parade and with the community response. He hopes that will continue next year with a greater number of people taking part.
“I hope next year the weather will be bang on.”
Katch Katikati’s Jacqui Knight said the big Christmas tree went up without a hitch with a good turnout from Katch Katikati. With the help of a cherrypicker from Aongatete Avocados the team got the job done in an hour. Once the weather clears Barry will have his sleigh hitched and Christmas flags will go up in the main street.