Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Christmas parades across wider Whanganui region canned

The Whanganui, Bulls and Taihape Christmas parades have been scrapped due to Covid-19 restrictions. Photo / NZME

Christmas parades across the wider Whanganui region are being scrapped as organisers struggle to work around the current Covid-19 restrictions.

Whanganui, Bulls and Taihape have decided against holding their Christmas parades due to the stringent restrictions and systems that would have to be in place under the new Covid-19 Protection Framework coming into effect on December 3.

Mainstreet Whanganui's Tom Langford said with Whanganui predicted to move into the "red light" setting when the new framework is rolled out across the country, they had cancelled the Christmas Parade this year.

"Realistically, it was never going to be easy to safely run a Christmas parade at the moment, even under level 2 conditions," Langford said.

"Under the new traffic light system, it would be virtually impossible as that system mandates that any event with more than 100 people requires the use of vaccine passports, which in turn means we'd need a fenced-off events space with strict controls on entry."

Mainstreet was considering options for an alternative event where children could meet Santa; however, they were awaiting clarity from the Government on what regulations would look like for smaller-scale community events.

"For the most part, the regulations seem geared towards either large-scale summer festivals or small-scale private events like weddings etc. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of guidance for non-ticketed community events that sit somewhere in between – and I think that's something that events planners across the country are grappling with at the moment.

"We'd love to be able to put something on for the community, as we could all do with some Christmas cheer after such a challenging year – but for now we'll have to wait and see what guidance the Government can provide us."

Another Covid casualty is City Mission Whanganui's Christmas Lunch.

Manager Karrie Brown said it was going to be difficult to hold the event in the current level 2 restrictions, which limited indoor gatherings to 100 people.

In 2020, 420 tickets were sold for the lunch at Wanganui Racecourse.

With the announcement of the new framework coming into place, Brown said it became obvious that holding anything would be just too difficult.

"It put a huge amount of limitation on what we could do."

City Mission didn't want to exclude those who weren't vaccinated.

"It just seemed to be getting more and more difficult the more scenarios we were thinking of."

Brown said the Christmas Lunch wasn't all about the food; it was the connection with others on Christmas Day.

"It was quite a sad decision to make really."

Taihape Community Development Trust project and events co-ordinator Pania Winiata said they thought of various different ways they could work around the Covid-19 restrictions but ultimately there were too many hoops to jump through.

It will be the first time under the trust that Taihape hasn't had a parade in more than 10 years.

"We looked at doing 100 people at one end of the township, 100 in the middle and another 100 at the other end. But logistically, to have the manpower to have that work, was just too hard. It was impossible."

Winiata said there were discussions around holding the event for vaccinated people only, but it would go against what the Christmas parade was all about.

"At the end of the day, our job is to bring the community together, not segregate the community. You want your whole community and the wider district to be part of the celebrations."

Although the parade won't go ahead, there will be a few smaller Christmas-related events, including carolling, late-night shopping and a visit from Santa, going ahead in Taihape throughout December.

"We are still trying to keep that festive feel."

However, in Raetihi Viv Hoeta and the Raetihi Christmas Parade Committee are pushing ahead and doing everything they can to try to give their town a parade.

"What we decided as a team is that we will ensure that our kids get a Christmas.

"We are still going ahead until we can't. We are trying to give our people something positive to look forward to so we are going ahead."

The Raetihi Christmas Parade Committee is doing everything it can to try to hold a parade this year. Photo / Supplied

Hoeta said they had 27 stalls that were set to be part of the parade and would have a variety of contingencies in place.

"We are planning for the worst and hoping for the best and we want to give our people a good thing heading into Christmas. That is all it is really about."

Hoeta said they were encouraging people to be vaccinated, but it would not be a requirement for parade attendees.

"But we are promoting safe practices; masks, distancing and contract tracing."

Ngāti Rangi will have a strong presence on the day, handing out flyers and vaccinating any locals who are interested.