Here comes Christmas - Dannevirke parade two months away

Last year's Dannevirke Christmas parade. Photo / File

With just two months to the day until the Dannevirke Christmas Parade sets off along High St, co-ordinator Suresh Patel says it's time to start working on floats.

The parade will be held on Saturday, December 7 at 12 noon.

The bar has been set high for this year's parade as last year's event had 49 floats entered, just two short of the record of the previous year.

"We're expecting a very similar number of entries again this year," Patel said.

He is hoping the parade committee, of which there are six members, can organise street entertainment prior to the parade to engage the crowd.

As happened last year Steve Wallace will be compere in the centre of town and will interview those on the floats.

The parade, which is organised by the Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce, will be sponsored by Dannevirke Mitre 10 for the third year running.

"We're very grateful for this sponsorship as it really helps with the costs of running it," said Patel.

The traffic management side of the parade costs around $2000 but the Dannevirke Community Board helped with that, he said.

The parade will be judged in five categories - best children's float, best Christmas float, most original, people's choice and the overall winner.

Prize money will be awarded to each category winner and the over winner will be presented with a shield they will hold for a year.

Votes for the people's choice category can be cast at one of several voting stations that will be set up along High St.

Parade entrants no longer have to specify the category they are entering in, this is decided by the judges on the day.

"This has made the judging of the floats much easier," said Patel.

The official prizegiving will take place on Monday, December 9.

The Pahiatua Christmas parade will also be held on December 7, with the Eketahuna parade on November 30 and the Woodville parade on December 14.