Hana Kōkō (Santa Claus) in a korowai with organiser Pamela-Anne Simon at a previous Moerewa Christmas Festival. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Hana Kōkō (Santa Claus) in a korowai with organiser Pamela-Anne Simon at a previous Moerewa Christmas Festival. Photo / Peter de Graaf
One Northland town is pressing ahead with a Christmas parade even as Covid restrictions force the region's other parades to be replaced by light trails and static displays.
Not only are Moerewa residents determined to welcome Hana Kōkō (that's Santa Claus in te reo) this Saturday, it'll also be their first Christmas parade down the main street in many years.
Festivities will be spread along the street from 10am to 1pm and will include entertainment, children's games, a free sausage sizzle, a bake-off, wheelbarrow races, fire engine rides, and competitions for pie-eating, best Christmas-themed mask, giant jenga and chess.
A tug o' war will pit Ōtiria Rugby Club players against their arch-rivals from Moerewa-United Kawakawa while other abilities will be showcased on stage in Moerewa's Got Talent.
Ngāti Hine Health Trust will offer information stands and a Covid vaccination Q and A.
The parade will run from 11.30am to noon with Hana Kōkō trading in his sleigh for a gleaming Cadillac, which has become a Moerewa tradition.
State Highway 1 traffic will be diverted around the town centre from 11am to noon.
Joey Rapana as an elf during Moerewa's revived Christmas Festival in 2018. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Organiser Pamela-Anne Simon revived the town's Christmas spirit in 2018 with a festival on the grounds of Moerewa Christian Fellowship, next to the BP service station,
At the time she said she wanted her mokopuna to enjoy the kind of community Christmas celebration she remembered as a child growing up in Moerewa, and because no one else was going to organise it, she did it herself.
This year is, however, the first time she has also organised a parade down the main street.
While such parades happened in the past, roading authority Waka Kotahi had no record of allowing a formal highway closure in Moerewa before.
Simon said the parade could go ahead because it was a controlled health event with vaccinators present.
QR codes and sanitising stations would be set up along the street and masks would be required.
"We know how to keep everyone safe," she said.
Also in the parade's favour was the fact Auckland's borders would not open until December 15.
It's not Simon's first time organising a parade despite the challenge of Covid restrictions.
In August last year she organised a victory parade to mark Ōtiria Rugby Club's first win in the Bay of Islands Championship in 59 years.
In that case spectators were socially distanced along Ōtiria Rd and a scaled-back ceremony at the club grounds was split into "bubbles" of 100 people.
This Saturday's parade, however, will be Northland's first under the new "traffic light system".
Floats are requested to line up on Mason Ave at 9am.
Makoare Clarke-Kopa, with mum Aaliyah Clarke from Kawakawa, has his first encounter with Hana Kōkō (Santa Claus) during a previous Moerewa Christmas Festival. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Northland's other Christmas parades have been cancelled in recent weeks because of the uncertainty caused by the Covid pandemic or the difficulty of organising public events under the restrictive red light setting.
The Whangārei Christmas Parade, which replaced the long-running Kamo Christmas Parade, was to have been held on December 18 but was cancelled on Monday.
Paihia's famously creative Christmas parade has been replaced by a trail of static displays around the town centre, which opens to the public at 3pm this Friday. The displays will remain in place until Monday and will be judged by the same criteria as parade floats.
Kerikeri and Kaikohe have also opted for static displays around their town centres.
