Covid-19 restrictions see Christmas parades in New Plymouth, Stratford and Hāwera cancelled

Another Taranaki tradition has fallen victim to Covid-19, with Christmas parades around the region being cancelled.

New Plymouth, Bell Block, Stratford and Hāwera parades have all been pulled, with towns including Inglewood and Waitara making their decisions this week.

The axe has been falling in the days after Taranaki’s Christmas at the Bowl event was called off.

The New Plymouth Christmas Parade, organised by the Central New Plymouth Lions Club, drew thousands of people in 2020, and co-ordinator Charles Thurston said deciding to call off this year’s event was gut-wrenching and had resulted in a few sleepless nights.

Thurston said they had hoped that if Taranaki got out of level 2 the parade could go ahead on November 27, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that this was not going to happen.

‘‘There’s no way we can do it abiding by the rules in place.’’

The Government has announced a new traffic light system of restrictions will replace the alert level framework once the country hits 90 per cent vaccination rates in every region, with further mandatory vaccinations announced yesterday by the Prime Minister.

According to Ministry of Health data, as at 11.59pm on Monday, 87 per cent of the eligible population over the age of 12 nationally has had one dose, while 71 per cent are fully vaccinated. In Taranaki, 83 per cent of the eligible population has had one jab, and 61 per cent have had both.

The region needs to administer 28,862 jabs to get to 90 per cent coverage – that’s 481 second jabs a day, on average, to hit the target by Christmas Day.

The traffic light system will allow fully vaccinated people to enjoy more freedoms at every level through the use of vaccine certificates.

Restrictions would still be in place, however, for those who were not vaccinated, as well as businesses that chose not to use vaccine certificates.

Thurston said even in the new system there was no way of them managing vaccination certificates in a large public setting with multiple entry points.

‘‘It would be irresponsible to have an event like this and then turn into a superspreader,’’ Thurston said.

The New Plymouth parade had been going for more than 50 years and to Thurston’s knowledge this was the first time it had been cancelled.

New Plymouth District mayor Neil Holdom said it was ‘‘really disappointing’’ Christmas parades were being cancelled.

‘‘But it’s a sign of the times that, unfortunately.

‘‘It’s going to be a different Christmas, a quieter, more family-focused Christmas and let’s just hope come next Christmas we can get out there and do things bigger and better and bolder.’’

Hawera’s parade, which had been set for December 11, was cancelled by organiser Bizlink Hāwera last night.

In a statement, Racquel Cleaver, Bizlink chair, said the decision was ‘‘disappointing’’, but their first responsibility was the safety of the community.

‘‘There’s just too much uncertainty for us to proceed.’’