Te Puke's Christmas float parade on the move

Te Puke's Christmas Float Parade will be on December 5.

The date of Te Puke's Christmas Float parade this year has been changed.

Originally planned for November 28, the parade has been moved a week closer to Christmas.

''There is a TECT Park open days happening on that date and the mayor and a lot of Western Bay staff are part of that event - plus Tauranga's parade is on the same day,'' says EPIC Te Puke marketing manager Rebecca Larsen.

''The Pāpāmoa parade is the week before so we are going to go for the week after, which is the fifth.''

The date goes back to the times when the parade was held on the first Saturday of December.

The parade will only go ahead if New Zealand is at alert level 1.

''There was a suggestion that there could be some sort of installation that people could drive round, but the committee has decided if there can't be a parade then nothing will happen.''

After Denny Hulme in 2017, local sports stars in 2018 and 60 years of kiwifruit last year, the theme of the 2020 parade will be more in keeping with the season - a Traditional Christmas Celebrating Community.

''We've not really had a Christmas theme for a number of years,'' says Rebecca, who is putting out a call for volunteers to help with the running of the parade.

''What we need is about 10 people behind the scenes to manage crowds and help with floats, getting them all lined up in order and generally helping with health and safety on the day,'' she says.

Volunteers must be adults and be free from early morning until the end of prizegiving.

''We also need some muscle, to drag out the reindeer and make sure they are up to scratch.

''I will talk to the usual suspects, but I really want to put it out there because it's always the same people who step up and it would be really nice if some new people came forward and put their hands up.''

Judges are also needed to decide who will be the category and overall prize winning entries in the parade.

''It takes a community to run this event and we'd like to see more community involvement,'' says Rebecca.

Anyone able and willing to help can email Rebecca at admin@epictepuke.co.nz.