Christmas tree to light up heart of Rotorua

Rotorua's public tree will be displayed again in Te Manawa. Photo/Supplied

Rotorua's public Christmas tree will again be gracing the heart of the city this festive season.

The tree lighting will be this Thursday in the refurbished Te Manawa.

Alongside the Rotorua Night Market, there will be festive entertainment to mark the occasion. Te Ao Marama choir will perform a range of Christmas classics from 7pm when the Christmas tree lights are officially turned on.

The Salvation Army Band will then entertain the crowd.

The Sallies and The Hits radio station will also be collecting non-perishable food donations for this year's

Rotorua Daily Post

Salvation Army Food Bank Christmas Appeal, so people are encouraged to bring along a can to help families in need this Christmas.

Rotorua Salvation Army Lieutenant Ralph Overbye was excited to be involved in the Christmas tree lighting event.

"Christmas is a wonderful and festive time of year for the community and families to get together to celebrate this special season.

"We invite everyone to come along and enjoy the music and entertainment, and help us bring a little Christmas joy and relief to families in our community who are experiencing hardship by contributing to the Christmas Appeal."

The tree reflects Rotorua's culture with a mix of traditional ornaments and locally made wooden decorations secured with woven harakeke rope. Embracing the bilingual city status, the words on the wooden decorations will be in English and te reo Maori.

The tree will take several days to put together and decorate.

The next major public festive occasion in Rotorua will be the Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 2.

The parade will start at 4pm and travel through the inner city before concluding at the Lakefront Village Green for a family Christmas movie at 6pm.

Check out www.christmasparade.co.nz for route details.

Forty new street banners joined existing Christmas flags in welcoming in the festive season earlier in November. The new banners wish everyone a "Meri Kirihimete" alongside the traditional "Merry Christmas" flags.