The FREE Santa parade is coming back with a new name, look and venue – The Christchurch Christmas Show Parade at the Canterbury Showgrounds.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 Christmas parades were sadly cancelled, but plans are now underway for a BIG 2022 comeback.
On Sunday December 18th at 2pm, the beautiful and historic floats of the The Christchurch Children’s Christmas Parade Trust will come out again for a parade after a 3-year hiatus.
The “Christchurch Christmas Show Parade” is a brand-new singing, dancing approach to the old Santa Parade. All the floats will be brought to life with music, singers, actors and dancers, and make their way round the roading system at the Canterbury Showgrounds. The floats will be laced together with popular characters, bands, marching teams and community & cultural groups.
According to Jason Reekers, Parade Director, the day will be a fun family event. We are hoping to have entertainment, a Christmas market, food vendors, bouncy castles, amusements and two large picnic areas for families to come and make a day of it. We will have parking on site and are looking at public transport options. The Canterbury Showgrounds is a perfect venue for the parade. The roading system is safe, and we don’t have to close any of the city’s roads and inconvenience any businesses or emergency traffic routes. The new design of the city is not very parade inclusive, but at the Showgrounds we can make a real event of it.
This is the first of what we hope will be many more years to come at the parade’s new permanent home – the Showgrounds. Due to timing restrictions, the parade will be a late one this year, but next year and every year after, the parade will be staged on the last Sunday of November. The Christmas parade in Christchurch has a history spanning back 75 years, and the Trust hopes to see it around for another 75.
We wish to grow the Christmas Show Parade yearly and make it Christchurch’s premiere free family Christmas event.
The Christchurch Children’s Christmas Parade Trust is a not-for-profit volunteer charitable trust that stages the annual Christmas parade. The event is partially self-funded with money raised from parade naming rights and float sponsorship. The remaining balance is raised by separate grants from the Christchurch City Council and multiple charitable funding foundations. After a failed attempt to self-fund earlier this year with a new style paid ticketed event being badly received by the public, this small volunteer trust is now faced once again with the huge task of raising the funds needed to put on this large free event at the Showgrounds. The cost of which is similar to that of the old city street parade, but relieves the parade of some of the heavy health & safety and traffic management requirements.
The Christchurch Children’s Christmas Parade Trust is pleading to the Christchurch business community to get behind and support this new free family event. Although some funding is sought to put on this free event, a large part is made up by support from local businesses through sponsorship and donations.
The trust is seeking a major “parade naming rights” sponsor, as well as individual sponsorship for each of their 22 spectacular floats.
In return for sponsorship, sponsors will get more than the usual “sign on a float”.
As well as traditional float signage, there will be large screens around the grounds displaying logos and Christmas messages from all sponsors. For further name recognition, there will also be a brand new “Who’s the Sponsor?” competition. Match all the sponsors with their floats to enter the draw.
To stay informed of all parade news and updates, or to contact for sponsorship information, please follow or contact through our Facebook page – The Christchurch Christmas Show Parade. New website to be launched soon.