Sharing the Christmas spirit
It’s official, Nuriootpa is hosting the Barossa Christmas Parade this year.
After much “grape vine” speculation that Nuriootpa has “stolen” the parade, Nuriootpa Futures Association’s Ms Kathryn Schilling and The Barossa Council’s Cr. Christopher Harms, of Tanunda, want to set the record straight.
As reported in The Leader in the lead up to last year’s Barossa Christmas Parade, convenor, Christopher mooted the idea that the event could be shared between towns to lessen what he labelled “volunteer fatigue”.
Following the folding of the Tanunda Town Committee last month and what he described as the “lack of a firm, well planned event management and compliance plan”, Christopher said it was decided to share the workload and offer the event to Nuriootpa this year.
“Tanunda North” has stepped into the vacuum,” he said cheekily.
Kathryn said the idea of sharing the event isn’t new and that it has always been something she has wanted to see happen.
“Around about twenty years ago when I was the chairperson of the then NURCA, we instigated a meeting with all the towns to try and create a Barossa Christmas event that rotated,” explained Kathryn.
“So this isn’t anything new. I’m excited that this is finally happening because it’s been a bit of a dream of mine to see a Barossa Christmas event.
“It takes a lot of pressure off the town committee’s voluntary resources and to have something every three years that you can plan and make really special is just perfect.
“With that vision, it’s easy to get Council support, it’s easier to get funding…It’s just a win, win situation for all the towns.”
Along with Kathryn and the NFA team, Christopher will help professionally manage the event which he hopes will bring all towns together in a bipartisan approach.
For the full story see this week’s edition of The Leader.
