Santa was too busy to comment, but parade organiser Anton Roswell said everything had gone smoothly, the only complaint being there was no wind to keep Santa cool while on his sleigh.
There were 86 entrants in the parade this year, including Totara Primary School’s children’s book Where the Wild Things Are-themed float, Plunket’s day at the beach trailer, and a man dressed as Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy, who showed up in a DeLorean, hoverboard in hand.
Mr Roswell said the parade exceeded his expectations.
He said about 10,500 people attended and spectators travelled from as far away as Dunedin and Timaru.
He believed people from outside the district were attracted to the parade because it offered a display other towns could not.
An example of that was the live shearing performed on the North Otago Agricultural & Pastoral Association float.
The parade was about the district coming together and celebrating everything that it was, he said.
