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Kavinda Herath / Things
Southland Santa Parade organizers have apologized that a float used the parade to promote the fight against the right to decide.
Southland Santa Parade organizers have apologized to the public after a pro-life float generated complaints.
However, the organizer of the float said there was nothing wrong with her messages during the parade.
Members of the floats held signs that read “Defend life,” “Life is valuable,” and “Life is worth it.”
The organizers of the parade posted on social media after the parade saying: “We apologize to everyone for the float against the right to decide, we did not realize it until the end.”
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The group has since noted the message.
The main organizer of the parade, Alice Pottinger, said the apology was made after several people commented that it was not appropriate for a Santa parade.
She agreed with his feelings.
“We were quite disappointed that they came as a Christian group and then they put out some posters … once they passed the starting line.”
The Santa Parade was not the forum to voice personal opinions, he said.
He declined to say whose float it was and said he had no intention of speaking to them.
The float was organized by Fiona Meyer, as part of the Voice for Life group.
There was nothing wrong with his messages during the parade, he said.
Meyer disagreed that the messages were “anti-choice”, as none of the slogans on the posters used the word “choice”, the messages were promoting life.
She understood that not everyone would agree with her, but it was her opinion and she was allowed to proclaim it, she said.
Meyer said he had told the organizer that the float would include a strong Christian message.
Kavinda Herath / Things
Southlanders kicked off the holiday season at the annual Santa Parade in Invercargill on Saturday, bringing community groups and businesses together on floats of all shapes and sizes.
As the Southland Single Party candidate in this year’s election, Meyer said there was a time for politics, but the election was over and it was not the purpose of the float.
She had not received any negative comments from the public or the parade organizers, she said.
Rhonda Riddle, who was the driver of the Southland Life Eduction float behind the Voice for Life float, said she had seen the posters but did not associate them with pro-life.
Pottinger, who indicated that the protests at the float had been done with a “soft focus,” said the Santa Parade on Saturday was a fantastic event.
“It was too good a day for a single float to soak up the atmosphere of the whole thing.”
Businesses and community groups put together 60 floats on the day, with all sorts of weird and wonderful themes, to entertain approximately 20,000 spectators who lined Gala St, Dee St and Kelvin St.
Dressed in Christmas tree earrings and a sequin cap adorned with the words “Merry Christmas,” Kathy Richardson seemed more excited than the small children around her.
“I’m a girl in my early 70s,” she beamed from the sidewalk on Dee St in Invercargill as she waited for the annual Southland Santa parade to begin on Saturday.
“This year, we have to keep the child in us alive,” he said.
Richardson generally lives in the United States, but decided to stay in New Zealand after returning for her daughter’s wedding, as she felt safer here amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
It had been 20 years since he last attended the parade in Invercargill.
