The local council decided to change tact as far as our Christmas Parade went for 2011, by making it an "engine less" parade the idea was it would be a "green" parade that consited of no vehicles.
Over all it was "engine" less if you don't count the few golf carts and even a minature train, but given that they were battery powered I guess from the point of view didn't run on petrol or desiel it was greener than previous years.
Not sure if there were more floats than previous years, but there was definatley a lack of entertainment, and at one point we were left standing around twiddling our thumbs for around five minutes.
All in all, I give the City council credit for trying to show a "greener" side of Palmerston North, however I think a lot more effort will be required if they plan on keeping these parades engine less. Heck, even Feilding got on the band waggon and are advertising their parade as a "Real Christmas Parade" over the Palmerston North one.
There was next to no crowd involvment and each group pretty much just walked the loop.. Yeah, lets all go to the Christmas parade and watch people "walk" around the square. Now, if that headline, (which is closer to what the parade was) had been used would I have gone. In a simple word even a city council member can understand, No! I wouldn't have bothered. Will I be going back next year, I feel like I need to follow this up and see how or if it improves. So yes I will be there next year.
Next week is the Feilding parade, the so called "Real" Christmas Parade. So I'll be checking out that one too.
