Dannevirke leisure marching team Ruahine Ramblerz will be taking part in Saturday's Christmas parade and will be leading marchers from 17 other teams from the lower North Island.
Dannevirke leisure marching team Ruahine Ramblerz will be taking part in Saturday's Christmas parade and will be leading marchers from 17 other teams from the lower North Island.
This weekend is shaping up to be an eventful one in Tararua.
The Dannevirke Mitre 10 Christmas Parade has long been a feature of the lead-in to Christmas and this year's event will be no exception.
Prior to the Christmas Parade a charter parade will be held when more than 100 soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment will exercise their right to march down High St at 10.30am.
Mayor Tracey Collis will review the parade at the junction of High and Ward Sts.
Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce committee member and parade organiser Suresh Patel says a good number of Christmas parade entries have been received so far.
"We may not quite get the level of entries that we have had over the past few years, but that's not surprising considering the year we have had," he said.
"But the entries we have received have been of a high calibre."
There are six categories the floats will be judged in.
They are champion of champions, best children's float, best business float, best Christmas themed, most original and people's choice.
Shields will be presented to the winner of each category at the prizegiving at 5.15pm on Monday at the Saigon Restaurant. This event is open to the public.
Entry forms are available from the Dannevirke Information Centre and need to be completed as soon as possible as entries close on Friday evening.
This year there will be one more public voting booth set up and these will be spread along High St, outside For Homes For Farms, Jessica's Kitchen, Harcourts and the former premises of Property Brokers.
The street magician will perform on the corner of High and Barraud Sts between 10.45 and 11.30am, however the bouncy castle has had to be relocated from the clock tower corner to outside Hewitt's Motorcycles.
Patel said the organisation of the parade was progressing well.
"We are fortunate to have such a range of different clubs, organisations and businesses behind us to ensure we again have an outstanding parade."
As in past years the Dannevirke Leisure marching team, the Ruahine Ramblerz, will be marching in the parade, leading teams from throughout the lower North Island.
Once the parade has finished the marching teams will head to the Sports Centre for a display day which is open to the public and is hosted by the Ramblerz.
An event for the young following the parade will be a walk to the Fountain Theatre in Ward St where the Dannevirke Fantasy Cave will open its Pop Up Christmas for the first time so children can visit Father Christmas. This will be open for an hour and a half after the parade ends and will reopen from December 10 until Christmas Eve.
Admission to Santa's cave will be by koha and this money will go toward of building new premises for the Fantasy Cave.
Last year's inaugural Weber Christmas market attracted a diverse range of stalls and a good crowd of shoppers.
This weekend will see the second Weber Christmas market at the hall and the school.
The event was organised by Trudy Hales for the first time last year and gives local people who are operating their businesses the opportunity to show what they create.
"We organise this to showcase the cool local businesses there are in Tararua."
Hales says there has been a last-minute flurry of inquiries from stallholders and the number booked in so far is just on 30.
"We have some new stallholders this year and some nice quality items on sale that are all hand-made locally."
