Crowds packed Berridge Park for Denmark’s Christmas festival, parade and Carols by Candlelight on Saturday evening.

Organiser Simone Klose said the event was a resounding success with a bigger than expected turnout of locals and holidaymakers.

This had demonstrated the region’s appetite for community events, especially at Berridge Park.

Berridge Park was clearly the ‘community hub’, a great space, with all the facilities needed to hold events.

“And the weather was absolutely perfect, which also helps,” Simone said.

Some punters were disappointed that vehicle floats couldn’t be included as part of the parade. However, in the spirit of Christmas there were many participants in the ‘walking parade’ through the park.

As Simone said: “After all, it is about the kids and families”.

In future Christmas festivals she would like to accommodate the emergency services to showcase what they do.

Due to the size of the crowd organisers had to implement a ‘Plan B’ on the night to facilitate the parade.

Zak Launay from Circus Collective, who was leading the parade, drove his little music train through the crowds, where possible and safe, and the rest of the parade followed.

“It was short, but it happened,” Simone said.

“There is definitely room for improvement and this will be a focus for next year’s parade.”

Having the Christmas Festival and Parade on the street as had been the case in previous years, required road closures which were costly.

The Shire of Denmark event policy encourages plastic reduction and the avoidance of single use cups and other items.

Plastic Reduction Denmark had enhanced the event’s waste management through the provision of chook scrap buckets and people bringing their own plates and cutlery.

However, people unfamiliar with Denmark events had not known about this.

“We will continue to work on this for future events,” Simone said.

“There were visitors to town that didn’t understand the concept.

“Once explained they understood.”

Food vendors were using cardboard and bamboo takeaway containers. 

See all the pictures in the issue.

This article appeared in the Denmark Bulletin, 21 December 2023.