The future of the Shine on Kaitāia Christmas parade is hanging in the balance as organisers consider pulling the plug on this year's event.
The future of the Shine on Kaitāia Christmas parade is hanging in the balance as organisers consider pulling the plug on this year's event.
Organisers of a popular Far North end-of-year celebration are calling on the community to get behind the event or risk it being canned this festive season.
Shine On Kāitāia’s Christmas parade is one of Te Hiku’s most anticipated events, drawing more than a thousand people from around the region to the main street of Kaitāia each year.
Last year’s show featured 20 floats, some with multiple vehicles, and was one of the largest after two years of disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hinemoa Tipene, of Shine On Kāitāia, said while 2022 was a success, the event had run on the smell of an oily rag, with minimal resources or opportunity to support volunteers.
Tipene said the event existed purely because of its volunteers and cost about $20,000 to run, which covered only the stage and sound equipment, plus associated road closure costs.
She warned if things didn’t improve this year, the team was considering calling it quits.
“For us at Shine on Kaitāia, we feel obligated to continue this amazing Christmas tradition, but we currently don’t have the capacity or manpower to do it,” Tipene said.
“Funding was really tight last year and although we had amazing support from our sponsors, everything had tripled in price, so we didn’t have kai for our volunteers which is a huge part of what we do.
The 2022 Shine on Kāitāia Christmas parade event crew (from left), Ashley Tipene, JD Kelly, Hinemoa Tipene, Ra Simeon, April Atkinson, Vanessa Matijevich. Front: Blair Kapa-Peters and Serenity Taniwha.
“We don’t want to, but if we don’t see the community support or help soon, we might have to scale things right back or potentially step away from organising it all together.”
Incidents of poor behaviour at last year’s event were also of concern, said Tipene, who received complaints of young people antagonising the crowd and float holders with water pistols.
She said children running onto the road was also a major problem and if people weren’t more mindful of their behaviour, she wouldn’t feel comfortable continuing.
“Our reason for bringing this back was because of the community feedback we received to hold it,” Tipene said.
“Last year we were lucky there weren’t any injuries because of unruly behaviour. I’m a youth worker so these rangatahi are my people but, unfortunately, their behaviour could have escalated into something much more serious. Our community need to own this and take responsibility for this behaviour because it’s their Christmas.”
Kāitāia Volunteer Fire Brigade station officer Kori Puckey has been involved with the Christmas parade for about six years, co-ordinating the fire trucks at the event.
Puckey said these feel-good events were important for connecting with the community, but the number of people getting too close to the floats was worrying.
“For us, being out in the community and people seeing a familiar face and associating that with the fire brigade is a big thing for us,” Puckey said.
Kori Puckey, the Kaitāia Volunteer Fire Brigade's 2019 Firefighter of the Year, with husband Josh. Photo / Peter Jackson
“Last year made me uncomfortable because there were kids everywhere on the road, coming right up against the fire truck, which made me question whether I would do it again.”
NZME reported on how the 2011 event had also been marred by bad behaviour, with bystanders claiming paint and other substances, including eggs, had been thrown at Santa.
Not long after, the parade was cancelled and didn’t return until 2017.
Somersault Event & Project Management director Jodi Betts was involved with the running of the parade more than a decade ago and was also there in 2011 when the chaos ensued.
She said it was disappointing to hear the same historical problems were still present and empathised with Tipene’s reluctance to keep going.
“Running an event like this, it’s not just the legislation and health and safety rules making it harder for people to want to do events, it’s also because some people don’t know how to behave at these events,” Betts said.
“These events are run by community groups with good intentions, who volunteer their time and efforts. I understand why they might not want to hold something like this when it’s potentially unsafe.”
Somersault Event & Project Management director Jodi Betts says it's disappointing some of the issues that led to the cessation of the Christmas parade were rearing their heads again.
Betts said participants rushing up to get lollies thrown from the floats had always been an area of concern.
She said making the parade viewing only with a protective barrier rather than as an interactive experience could potentially help solve that issue.
For anyone wanting to get involved, Tipene said six key roles across the following work streams were needed: funding applications, communications and marketing, road closure, float manager, concert manager, stage manager and stall manager.
Another 30 volunteers were required on the day to help with the logistics and running of the event.
Tipene said ultimately, it was up to the community if they wanted the parade to be a success, and wanted to thank others who’d done their best to get things happening for locals.
“I want to address the fact that if we want to continue to do cool things for our community, we have to band together and support it, otherwise these things will stop happening,” she said.
“Lots of people like to give stink feedback, but if you don’t like it, then instead of sitting around and moaning, be a part of the change.
“I also want to take this opportunity to send lots of aroha to Andrea Panther because she was a huge advocate for public spaces in Te Hiku, so I’m very disappointed at the way she was treated for the mahi she did.”
The 2023 Shine on Kāitāia Christmas Festival is scheduled to run on Saturday, December 2, from 10am-2pm, and will include a Santa grotto, Christmas parade and a Christmas concert in the park.
