Christmas to come twice for Timaru in 2023?

Wednesday, 21 June 2023

From 2003 until 2020, Timaru’s Christmas star lit up the night sky over Māori Hill from its former prime spot atop the town’s former tallest tree, fondly known as the ‘Champagne Tree’.

Timaru is getting a new Christmas tree, and while it will be a little shorter than those in charge had hoped – the council says it got a competitive price for the new festive centrepiece.

But that’s not all the good news, the town’s long-running slippery tiles saga also looks set to be resolved – and, also, under budget.

But the residents of Geraldine and Temuka will have to wait a bit longer for their tiles to be fixed, and while the council spent $130,000 on Timaru’s fancy new tree – there is no budget for trees for other towns.

The Wellingtonian Star atop 'The Champagne Tree' on Wai-iti Rd shines brightly over Timaru for Christmas 2020.

Both projects are part of a council plan to spend $1 million on “quick wins” after an admission there had been very little progress in the CBD, in terms of improvements the community could see, as a result of the CityTown trials.

The trials were put on hold in March, and then scrapped altogether in May, with the council’s group manager infrastructure Andrew Dixon promising at the time some “quick wins” would be rolled out as soon as possible.

On Tuesday, councillor Stu Piddington asked for an update and explanation on plans to spend $225,000 on a Christmas tree for Timaru, whether the district’s other centres could expect a new tree, and why those projects seemed to have been prioritised over the town’s slippery tiles issue.

Station, George and Stafford Sts had alterations made as part of the last CityTown trial which was deemed a 'total failure' by mayor Nigel Bowen earlier this year.

“It’s a lot of ratepayers’ money. We are, what, $5 million overspent for the year already, and I don't know how well this is going to go down,” Piddington said.

Dixon explained the minor projects or “quick wins” were assessed by the CityTown Steering Group, which includes stakeholders and elected representatives.

“I will point out the CityTown is well underspent at the moment, and we are looking at spending about $1m on these minor projects which will carry through into the next financial year as well.”

He said Piddington had been supplied with estimates, which were “on the high side”, and said the actual cost of the Christmas tree was $130k.

Timaru's Christmas lights are strung across Stafford St each year.

“We’ve had to purchase a little bit shorter one than what was originally planned, but also got some competitive prices.

“We had District Plan regulations to deal with.”

He said the Christmas tree was “fairly upmarket” and designed to last about 20 years, and compared the cost to that of the Christmas star which cost $45k, plus installation costs each year.

“These things do cost. I will point out that I’m sure 45 years ago there were plenty of people in the community complaining about how much the angels (the town’s Christmas decorations) were going to cost, but they’ve certainly proved their worth.

Nigel Bowen included a promise to sort Timaru's slippery tiles in his 2019 election campaign.

“They’re still going after all these years, so if you buy the quality you get the life out of it.”

Asked by Piddington where it would be placed, and whether Temuka and Geraldine would also get a tree, Dixon said there was no budget for the other towns, and the tree would be erected on Timaru’s Piazza to tie it in with the carnival.

The tiles in Timaru's CBD have long been the source of concerns about being slippery.

“It’s going to be quite a feature to get people into town, we’ve got the new CPlay playground going on down at Caroline Bay … the idea is to create connectivity, try and draw people out of Caroline Bay and into the city centre.”

Dixon said the council had just received a quote to fix the town’s slippery tiles and was working “with the contractor at the moment”.

Arborist John Baxter puts Timaru's Christmas star light on top of the Champagne tree in November 2018.

He said that project had also come in “well below budget”, and we are looking at spending about a million dollars.

“We’ll be getting on to that. We’ve got some trial area to start with very shortly, and then we’ll be doing the rest of the CBD, mainly Stafford St.”

Summer Pay, left, and Summer Larsen take a selfie in front of Waimate’s Christmas tree in 2022.

Geraldine ward councillor Gavin Oliver asked whether they could expect work done on their tiles, and those in Temuka, at the same time. Dixon replied: “We haven’t programmed that at the moment, but if the trial proves to be very successful in Timaru we will look at extending it out to Geraldine and Temuka.”

In April 2021, it was announced a new home would need to be found for Timaru’s Christmas star after former mayor Damon Odey advised the placement atop the town’s former ‘Champagne Tree’ would become problematic.

The star had been placed at the top of the tree which towered over the Wai-iti Rd property it sat on each Christmas from 2003 where it could be admired by passers-by.

Waimate got its own 9m tall Christmas tree, which is erected in Seddon Sq, five years ago.

The news, coupled with a decision not to hold the long-running Caroline Bay carnival or Christmas parades that year, threatened to derail the town’s festive traditions altogether.

However, a new home was found, with the star sat atop the training tower at the Timaru Fire Station in Latter St in 2021 and 2022.

In March 2022, the 34m Champagne tree was cut down.

Down the road in Ōamaru, Christmas is celebrated with a 10-metre tall tree which in 2022 was adorned with 4000 lights. The town, which sits in the Waitaki District, is one of three with community Christmas trees. There are also 4.5m tall trees, which each have 2000 lights, in Palmerston and Kurow. All three trees have sponsorship, the council said.

Last year, a 7-metre tall tree was erected in Twizel’s Market Pl by the Twizel Mistletoe Group after the community helped to raise more than $25,000 to replace the town’s dated Christmas decorations.

In 2018, Waimate forked out $30,000 for a 9-metre tall community Christmas tree after securing $22,000 worth of sponsorship. At the time, the council committed a maximum of $8200 in ratepayer funds to the project, almost half of which was to cover the installation of electricity, so the tree could be lit up.

The tree, which is erected in Seddon Sq each year, was the target of vandalism just 8 days after it was set up for the first time – disappointing council staff.