Christmas turned up in Palmy at the weekend drawing festive crowds. Photo / Ahmed Yehia
Christmas turned up in Palmy at the weekend drawing festive crowds. Photo / Ahmed Yehia
OPINION
It was a weekend of happy Christmas events as the festive season was officially welcomed.
Christmas came to Ashhurst first on Saturday with the annual parade and market attracting plenty of praise for the way both were run by a new organising committee. That evening, crowds turned up for A Very Palmy Christmas Concert at Te Marae o Hine/The Square featuring the Rodger Fox Big Band and the lighting of the Christmas tree.
While Saturday’s events got great weather, not even the rain on Sunday could deter the Kairanga Lions Christmas Parade. Families were keen to celebrate and enjoy the occasion with thousands turning out.
Numerous other events are pending, with the Renaissance Singers and a children’s choir presenting Carols for Christmas on Saturday at St Peter’s Anglican Church.
On Friday, December 15, at Savage Reserve, West End, we’re starting our season of free Summer Movie Nights with a screening of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. The next movie will be Hunt for the Wilderpeople showing at Awapuni Park on January 18.
The Globe Theatre is alive with a variety of entertainment in the coming fortnight and the Christmas Comes to Town concert at the Regent on Broadway takes place just a couple of days before the season’s main event.
Santa may vacate Te Manawa’s 105-year-old Santa Cave on Christmas Eve, but the attraction that opened in Collinson & Cunninghame’s department store on Christmas Eve 1918 to celebrate the end of World War I will stay open, except for the statutory holidays, until Sunday, January 7.
Jazzin' 3 was one of the acts at A Very Palmy Christmas Concert on Saturday. Photo / Ahmed Yehia
With Awapuni racetrack temporarily out of commission, the traditional Boxing Day races become a virtual meeting live-streamed from Trentham at the Awapuni Race Centre.
The next day at Fitzherbert Park there’s the T20 Cricket Super Smash double-header with the Central Hinds and Central Stags taking on their Northern Districts counterparts.
The year ends in the traditional way at the family-friendly New Year’s Eve in The Square with games, music, dancing, song and fireworks.
Looking forward to 2024, at Wellington Anniversary weekend there’s the UCI Gravel and Tar classic cycle tour of Ashhurst-Pohangina country roads. In its eighth year, Oceania’s toughest single-day road race for elite cyclists incorporates Gravel and Tar La Femme and the Slicks and Stones Gravel Assault at Āpiti.
There’s also the annual Hīmatangi Beach Big Dig fundraiser.
The following weekend there’s the Manawatū-Orion Motorcycle Club’s Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville, the Ashhurst-Pohangina Lions Small Holders Auction, with Lunar New Year celebrations in The Square to welcome in the Chinese Year of the Dragon.
The first weekend of February has the NZ Superstocks Teams Challenge, quickly followed by Waitangi Day celebrations with Rangitāne o Manawatū.
Then the council knuckles down to address the pressing issues affecting the city. These include our long-term plan, which requires balancing issues such as infrastructure, housing, earthquake strengthening, community facilities, and the costs associated with our Nature Calls wastewater project.
Our strategic catalyst projects based around the Te Utanganui Logistics and Rail Hub and the city’s role in New Zealand’s food innovation sector, will also need to adapt to a new government and its policy directions.
Until then, we have the annual holiday season and all its trimmings to focus on. My best wishes to everyone for a happy, festive and safe summer break.
