Sign In / Register
One of the largest Ōrewa Beach Santa Parades in the event’s history took place on Saturday, November 23.
A record number of 57 floats – almost 100 vehicles and groups – took part in the procession from Alice Avenue along the highway to the Ōrewa Beach Reserve carpark. Ten thousand onlookers lined the route to watch the parade pass. The parade has been a feature of Christmas on the Coast for more than two decades.
Floats were put together by local businesses, clubs and community organisations in an annual effort that brings the whole Coast together to create a fun start to Christmas. An anonymous judge with a bird’s-eye view evaluated the floats for crowd engagement, enthusiasm volume, vibrancy and overall look.
Along with old favourite cartoon characters, the children were excited to see the popular purple Grimace (from McDonalds). Vintage, classic and hot rod cars, motorbikes, skaters, stilt walkers and cheerleaders, as well as anyone handing out lollies, were also a hit with the young ones.
As always Santa was the star of the show, arriving on his new sleigh built by Silverdale resident Christine Granger (HM November 18).
Destination Ōrewa Beach manager Hellen Wilkins said they had record-breaking numbers for the parade and float numbers for next year’s event would have to be managed.
“Events like this are one of the most rewarding parts of our job. We work in an amazing town centre and participants travel from across Auckland to be in our parade.
“It was incredible to see the turnout – at some points the crowd was 10-12 people deep. Every year, Gayle [Hill] and I look at the smiles on their faces and it makes it all worthwhile.”
Wilkins said the only disappointment was the safety concerns with children encroaching on the parade route and some even sitting in the centre of the road.
“We had 40 road marshals along the parade route, but we need parents’ to support us by keeping their children safe and off the road,” Wilkins said.
Behind the scenes
As always, the preparation that goes on ahead of the Santa Parade is immense for the businesses and community organisations that take part. The public gets a glimpse of that as participants prepare. This year DaeHan TaeKwondo’s warm-up was particularly impressive, drawing a crowd as the young people went through their paces.
An African-themed fundraiser by Rotary Ōrewa-Millwater, Eats and Beats on Moana Reserve, provided a colourful market to browse through before the start of the parade. It included African clothing, food and music from stallholders who had travelled from around Auckland to take part. For variety, Mexican, Turkish and Mr Whippy food trucks were also in the mix!
