Usually held at Napier's Anderson Park, this year's Christmas at the Park show will be streamed digitally instead. Photo / NZME
Usually held at Napier's Anderson Park, this year's Christmas at the Park show will be streamed digitally instead. Photo / NZME
This year's festive season will have a different feel, with ongoing Covid-19 uncertainty prompting the organiser of the annual Christmas at the Park event to move online.
The popular community event organised by the Kaisen Charitable Trust and usually held at Napier's Anderson Park will now be run as a live-stream event.
Organiser and trustee David Trim said they had been preparing three different versions of the event after realising it would not likely be able to take place as usual.
"We are trying to find ways to keep our Hawke's Bay events alive instead of ending up on the cancellation list."
Trim said the event sector had had a tough time with changing restrictions around crowd restrictions relating to Covid-19 alert level settings.
The organisers waited as long as possible to evaluate the conditions to see what format the final Christmas at the Park would look like as an event, he said.
"With all the known information, as of now, collated and placed into the Covid crystal ball for gazing into the future, we can see that we will most likely not have the required levels we need to run the event in Anderson Park."
Event organiser David Trim says the show will still feature Jason Kerrison as the lead act, along with local bands, singers, Santa Claus and Christmas carols and digital fireworks. Photo / NZME
Going digital would allow the event to continue via live streaming, maintaining all the entertainment features usually packed into the show, including a digital fireworks display.
"The digital concept opens up the door for other ways of audience engagement, like competitions and receiving photos and comments as the event rolls on."
Trim said a small audience would be able to take part from the streaming centre, with a venue and crowd limit yet to be confirmed.
The event has previously been live-streamed for the past two years, but this would be the first time a fully digital production will take the lead on the event planning and the trust was engaging with a production company to produce the online event.
Trim said it will be great to see how an event can "remain exciting" and maintain its integrity through transferring to a digital platform.
Originally set down for December 4, the new digital show will be live-streamed over Facebook on the same day starting at 6pm.
The show will be reduced from the usual four-and-a-half hours to just two-and-a-half hours.
Jason Kerrison will still be the lead act and will be supported by local bands, singers, Santa Claus and Christmas carols.
- More information can be found online at http://christmasatthepark.org.nz/
