Uprooted candy canes, torn-down lights and rogue reindeer could be the work of a Grinch targeting Christmas decorations in Central Hawke’s Bay.
Ken Mildenhall was away on Saturday night and returned Sunday to find Christmas candy cane decorations ripped from his garden and lights dragged from the trees on his Jellicoe St property in Waipukurau.
“The lights are in the bin now - they’re wrecked. My wife is in Hastings today trying to replace the decorations as we’re in the Property Brokers Christmas lights competition,” Mildenhall said.
“But I’m retired now and these things cost money. I do it every year for the community and this is the first time I’ve had any trouble.”
Mildenhall volunteers for the CHB Community Op Shop and buys toys that have been donated and then dresses up as Santa on Christmas Eve, sets himself up with a table outside his house and gives the toys away to children.
“Needless to say I’m not happy with the destruction. I went to the police and they said there had been a bit of it about - decorations taken in Waipawa and another property hit in Waipukurau.”
In Waipawa, Nici Baldwin had only just put up her decorations on Saturday when she discovered on Sunday morning an inflatable reindeer had disappeared out of the enclosed yard of her Waverley St property.
“He’s gone, he has gone back to the North Pole,” Baldwin said.
“[The thief or thieves] very carefully opened the safety box and unplugged it. They’ve all got guy ropes on them and they are all pegged with camping pegs. I had hammered those camping pegs in and they’ve managed to pull those out and took the whole lot.”
She said after she made a social media post about the incident, she got several comments and a couple of messages from other residents about their decorations being hit with theft and vandalism.
She wasn’t sure if the apparent string of local incidents were opportunistic drunks from the unofficial Crate Day celebration over the weekend or targeted.
Baldwin said she had put up decorations for Christmas every year “for a long time” and had only recently replaced her decorations after her old ones were all damaged in flooding after Cyclone Gabrielle.
“It is just disheartening because it is a lot of money and a lot of time. You do it because the community likes it, they like looking at it and it puts smiles on their faces,” she said.
She hadn’t reported her incident to police, but a police spokeswoman confirmed they had received a report of theft involving some items stolen from a residential property in Waipawa.
“Police are also aware that there may have been other similar events occurring in the area. This report is currently being assessed by police for further inquiries,” the spokeswoman said.
Police advised Waipawa residents to be vigilant leading up to the holiday period.
Members of the public were advised to report any unusual or suspicious activities, check on the property of neighbours if they know they are away and take security measures like ensuring all doors and windows are locked and installing CCTV cameras and sensor lights as deterrents.
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz