‘Alien slug and a UFO’ to get Blenheim buzzing for Santa

Thousands of lollies will be handed out by elves from another universe when one of Blenheim’s biggest-ever Christmas parades hits the streets this weekend.

Omaka Observatory was one of many groups entering into this year’s parade, and instead of a reindeer and a sleigh, chairperson Lee Harper said their float would feature an “alien slug and a UFO”.

“So we’re making a papier-mache UFO and a papier-mache alien slug … to have sort of like an alien, if you like, Rudolph and sleigh,” he said.

“And we’ll make sure the slug has a red nose.”

The out-of-this-world visitors will ride on top of a bus full of “alien elves”, with some elves being given the job of handing out 4000 “alien lollies” bought in bulk from a specialty lolly store in Christchurch.

“Well, I say alien, they’re green … so we got 4000 lollipops to give away at the Santa parade.”

One of the youngest community observatory members of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand, Omaka Observatory won a prize for the first ever space-themed parade entry last Christmas.

“We’ve got a good bunch of kids as part of our society, and who just found it really fun last year to do it, and it’s also about highlighting the fact that we exist, because obviously we’ve only been going 18 months … so it’s more about having fun and just reminding people that there’s actually an observatory in Marlborough,” Harper said.

“We’ve got one of the youngest clubs in the country, so over half our members are under 16, so we’ve got a very strong youth presence, which is really cool. I mean the concept of the observatory was all about getting the kids of Marlborough engaged.”

Other float entries in this year’s parade would include a gingerbread house made by cake and sweets maker Sweet Creations, and a waka created by kaupapa Māori social service provider Maataa Waka.

Pure Events Marlborough event manager Katrina Lange said 35 businesses and organisations had registered floats for the 2023 event, making it Blenheim’s most extensive Christmas parade in at least a decade.

“We’re so excited with the range and having more floats and groups participating … it’s so good to see everyone so involved with it and doing such awesome floats,” Lange said.

“We’ve got from mini ponies, to motocross bikes, to so many different cultures with their interpretation of Christmas, so it’s going to be really awesome.”

Previously run by Marlborough 4 Fun, this year’s parade would not have been able to go ahead without the support of Marlborough District Council, and Fulton Hogan helping out on traffic control, Lange said.

“It’s a really key event on the calendar for kids and us adults, the young kids at heart … it is a big effort from the communities and the businesses that are involved as well, but there’s a whole lot of work that goes behind it,” she said.

The parade is set to kick off at 3.30pm on Saturday, beginning on John St before going past Seymour Square, down Queen St, along Maxwell Rd and then up Market St. The Picton Christmas Parade is on Sunday, starting at the police station at 2pm.