Street parade (Christmas, Santa or community parade): checklist
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Before Get council permission to use the public space. The rules Apply for the council permit, leaving several weeks for it to come through. The rules Read the food-safety rules for fundraising sales and plan safe handling. The rules Get a traffic management plan approved for any use of the road. The rules Prepare a formal health and safety plan for the council or landowner. The rules Arrange a first aider and a stocked first aid kit. Arrange public liability insurance (venues and councils often ask for it). Form a committee and pick a date and a route with the fewest state highway and bus-route crossings: short loops on local roads are far cheaper to close than a state highway (Woodville and Piopio both sit on state highways; The Post, Newstalk ZB). Ring the council's events team 5-6 months out. Ask about the event permit, road closure process and fees, whether the route is council or NZTA road, and whether the council funds or sponsors parades. Read the NZ Events Association Practice Note for Planned Public Events (it has a section on Christmas parades) and take it to your traffic management meetings; it says event traffic management 'often becomes expensive and over-engineered' and a risk-based plan can be scaled to the real risk (NZEA). Get 2-3 traffic management quotes from providers on your council's or Auckland Transport's list. Ask each to design under NZGTTM, to explain every cone, sign and staff member, and whether they will sponsor or discount (RNZ: Kaiapoi and New Brighton were sponsored). Lodge the road closure application at least 60-90 days out so the council can publish the 42-day public notice; include the route map, times, detours and access for residents and emergency services. Lodge the event permit with a site map, run sheet and health and safety plan; add the TMP, insurance certificate, waste plan and first aid booking as the council asks. Budget and fund it: lock in a naming sponsor and 3-6 float or section sponsors, apply to council events funding and local trusts 3-6 months out, and do not commit to the TMP until funding covers it (Onehunga could not go ahead without a grant; RNZ). On the day First aider on site, and everyone knows where the kit is. Call for entries 8-10 weeks out with an entry form and indemnity covering vehicle WOF and registration, licensed drivers, safety walkers per float, no throwing lollies and no political floats (Hamilton Christmas Parade). Charge a fee for commercial floats only if local parades do (many are free: Browns Bay, Feilding). Book first aid (St John or another provider) with a signed quote, portaloos, rubbish and recycling bins, radios and a PA; brief local police and the bus operator. Recruit and brief marshals: assembly area, route every 50-100m, dispersal area and crowd crossings, all in hi-vis with radios (estimate). Add income on the day: permitted bucket collectors along the route, a street fair or food stalls at the start or end (see ‘Community festival or fair on a park or reserve’), and a sponsor stage or Santa photo booth. Watch out for Signing the traffic management quote before funding is confirmed; costs can rise late ($5,000 the week before in Christchurch; RNZ). Missing the 42-day public notice window means no road closure, whatever else is ready. Expecting float fees to pay the bills: many NZ parades charge community floats nothing (Browns Bay, Feilding). Treating it as a fundraiser first: for most committees a parade is a community event that needs fundraising, not one that raises money (estimate). Road closure under the Local Government Act 1974 with a 42-day public notice, plus a traffic management plan now designed to NZGTTM; NZ parades report $9,000-20,000 in traffic management alone (RNZ). Bucket collections need a council street appeal permit in many districts.
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