Crowds gather for last year’s Martinborough Christmas Parade. PHOTOS/FILE
Covid rains on our parades
TOM TAYLOR
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Organisers of most of the region’s Christmas parades have pulled the plug on festivities this year, with remaining plans hanging by a thread.
Carterton, Greytown, Eketahuna, and Martinborough had already cancelled their towns’ parades, with the fate of Masterton’s parade yet to be decided.
Meanwhile, Featherston parade organiser Claire Bleakley said if her town’s event went ahead, it would likely take on a new form.
“If we have a parade, we will not be using the main street,” she said.
However, she said there was a possibility the town could still host a big cricket match and picnic.
The Rotary Clubs of Carterton and Greytown announced the cancellation of their parades on Tuesday morning, while Eketahuna’s Santa Cruise Parade was cancelled last week.
Martinborough parade organisers Madcaps also decided to hold off on this year’s parade due to covid-19 restrictions, although they were in discussions with the Martinborough Business Association about organising a carols evening.
Carterton Rotary Club member Robyn Cherry-Campbell said after listening to the Government’s 4pm announcement on Monday, that it became clear that the parade could not go ahead.
“We can’t run the parade under level 2,” she said.
“It’s really disappointing for the kids. I may be a bit biased, but I think the Carterton Christmas Parade is the best one.”
She said more than 5000 spectators usually turned up for the Carterton parade, with almost 1000 people participating.
“The streets are just packed.”
Alert level 2 rules allowed events at venues to go ahead with no limit on the number of attendees, provided everyone could safely stay one metre apart.
However, outdoor events, including parades, were limited to 100 people.
The Carterton Rotary Club would still go ahead with a window-dressing competition for businesses in the town centre.
“The shop windows on High St are all going to get decorated and look amazing as they always do,” Cherry-Campbell said.
She was also working with Carterton-based arts organisation Wai Art and planned to have artists painting festive scenes on some of the town’s empty shop windows.
This year, the Rotary Club and Carterton District Council had planned to have a summer party at Carrington Park.
“That’s obviously all canned as well.”
However, Cherry-Campbell said that the months of preparations would not be in vain.
The Rotary Club already had a date set for next year’s parade: Saturday, November 26.
The parade’s theme – Santa’s Workshop – would carry over to next year, meaning much of the planning could also roll forward.
“Given the circumstances, the most important thing is everyone being safe. The last thing we need is any one of our Wairarapa Christmas parades to be a super-spreader.”
Greytown parade organiser Rob Smith found a silver lining in the cancellation of his town’s parade.
“After a couple of very frustrating days trying to organise the parade, I’m now able to sleep at night,” he said.
The Greytown parade had been scheduled for December 11. Although the date was later than Carterton’s, Smith said the amount of planning involved in such an event meant an early decision was necessary.
“The trouble is that you just can’t flick the switch a couple of weeks before the parade because there is so much preparation that goes into this.”
He said a traffic management plan alone took three months to come together, and some of the more intricate floats could take weeks to set up.
Although the parade would not go ahead, Smith said there was hope that a brass band would still come to play carols on the town hall steps.
Smith said the Rotary Club would pursue another parade next year.
A Masterton District Council [MDC] spokesperson said a call would be made on the town’s parade by the end of next week.
The MDC Magical Christmas Parade was scheduled for Saturday, December 18 – the latest of any Wairarapa towns.
