Funding uncertain for Auckland's $1m Santa Parade

Thursday, 15 November 2018

Last year's Farmers Santa Parade wound through central Auckland.

The organiser of Auckland's downtown Santa Parade is without tens of thousands of dollars of sponsorship after a council agency withdrew funding.

The Auckland Childrens' Christmas Parade Trust has lost its previous $45,000 contribution from ATEED, which said the event does not fit the criteria for its Major Events Fund, and that had been signalled for several years.

ACPT's General Manager Pam Glaser wanted the event put on a more even footing with the Pasifika, Diwali and Lantern Festivals which ATEED backs with six-figure sums.

The trust will now have to compete for council funding to help meet its almost $1 million parade budget for next year.

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The downtown Santa Parade is an 85-year institution, with long-standing naming-rights sponsorship from retailer Farmers.

Glaser said it draws 100,000 to the city centre on a single day, although other estimates are much lower.

'Our position is just that we want a fairer distribution of funds by ATEED,' Glaser told Stuff.

Auckland's mayor Phil Goff has lent his support to the parade, without saying where future council sponsorship would come from.

'I want Council to continue to support the Santa Parade. It is an Auckland institution which tens of thousands of Aucklanders flock to each year,' Goff said in a statement.

'Christmas is a special time of year for all Aucklanders and we should continue to celebrate it in this way.'

'As a kid I loved the Santa Parade. I took my own kids to it and look forward to taking my grandkids to enjoy it too,' he said.

There was no response to a question from Stuff as to whether the mayor would underwrite the sponsorship out of discretionary funds in his own budget.

Goff attended last year's parade and enthused to Stuff about the event.

'I think its tremendous, seeing people on both sides of the street from all our communities, North, South, East and West,' he told Stuff from the route on Queen Street.

ATEED said the parade organisers had been told in previous years that in the long-run the event would need to seek funding from the council's community events budget.

The general manager Destinations, Steve Armitage told Stuff that Major Events funding was for events with potential to attract out of town and overseas visitors, which the Lantern Festival was starting to do.

'The Lantern Festival now has 150,000 people a year and has outgrown its original location - we are seeing international visitors coming in for it.

'We'd like to think Diwali and Pasifika have similar growth potential - but it's hard to make the same claim for the Santa Parade.'

Armitage said ATEED's event funding was never guaranteed and the parade had had to contest for backing each year.

Glaser said the event had made losses in recent years, covered by reserves which the trust had built up during earlier, better-backed parades.

Auckland Council said $600,000 was available annually from its Regional Events Fund, but a bid on the scale of the Santa Parade's would put pressure on.

The largest grants from that fund have been $50,000 to Polyfest, $40,000 to Christmas in the Park, and $30,000 to the Buskers' festival.

'If another big one came in, there's going to be some decisions made at a political level about which applications to support.' said Events manager David Burt.

The Auckland Santa Parade has had its ups and downs, being organised and run by Farmers itself until the 1980s, when embattled owner Chase Corporation 'gifted' the event to Auckland City.

Auckland Childrens' Christmas Parade Trust was formed in 1991 to oversee the event, and is chaired by Chamber of Commerce CEO Michael Barnett.

Other trustees include representatives from Farmers, media company NZME, accountants Deloittes, Heart of the City, and two individuals.

It is put together by Glaser's company Crackerjack Promotions.

ATEED and Auckland Council's support last year saw them classed as 'major sponsors' by the Santa Parade.