The Whanganui Christmas Parade is back

Santa and his sleigh will once again journey down Victoria Avenue this December in the Mainstreet Christmas Parade. Photo / Supplied

Santa Claus will make his way down Victoria Avenue as part of the Mainstreet Christmas Parade being held next month.

The parade was called off in 2021 due to Covid-19.

This year’s edition will be happening from 2pm on Saturday, December 10.

Mainstreet Whanganui promotions and events manager Geoff Follett said it was great to have the parade back and it felt like Christmas was getting back on track with it going on.

“Whanganui wasn’t the only town in the country that missed out on having a Christmas parade, and to see it back again, well what can you say? It’s like things are returning to normal,” he said.

He said interest in the parade had been similar to previous years, but he was expecting anticipation of the event and the number of floats entering to steadily increase as the days ticked down.

“What we find is... people putting floats in comes in dribs and drabs and then suddenly there’ll be a point where it becomes a tsunami.”

He had received entries for floats that had not been seen in the parade before.

All floats entered will go in the draw to win one of three $200 cash prizes across three categories, best vehicle float, best walking float and best costumes.

After the parade, Follett said there will be an all-ages celebration at Majestic Square at about 3pm, a performance from the Brazillian percussion band Samba ao Vento, and an appearance by Santa and his elves for a lolly scramble.

He was expecting a turnout of thousands of people for both the parade and the entertainment and said organising it was easy as all he had to do was announce it and people would come out of the woodwork for it.

“People can’t help it, you’ve got something running through town and people just can’t turn away.”