Cheers of joy, rapturous applause and a flurry of excited children swarmed central Wanaka yesterday for the second parade in a month, this time to welcome home New Zealand's successful Paralympian team Adam Hall, Corey Peters, and Carl Murphy.
Several hundred turned out to show their support for the parading trio who brought home one gold and two bronze medals between them.
Much of the crowd were beaming primary school pupils jittery with excitement, carrying signs of support for their heroes, setting a scene that made an impression on the athletes.
''It was pretty incredible to have a welcome home like this in Wanaka in a parade and have so many people come out here and acknowledge us,'' Hall said.
''I'm just blown away by the amount of support from the whole community throughout my whole journey and throughout these games,'' Murphy said.
Chef de mission Ashley Light said the community factor was of vital importance to the athletes' success.
''There's a great saying, it takes a village to raise a child - and it's definitely taken everybody and all the support around these guys to allow them to achieve their own personal goals.''
Following the parade, the athletes had an autograph signing session at the Cardrona office, where members of the community young and old got to see a Paralympic gold medal.
Some, like 8-year-old Ben Soper, even got to hold it.
Cardrona general manager Bridget Legnavsky congratulated the trio and told them the value of meeting their supporters face-to-face.
''The most important thing you're doing is coming out here and inspiring all of this community and all these young children.''
