Preparations underway to light Rotorua for Christmas

A dedicated local weaver has contributed to the decorations for Rotorua’s inner city Christmas tree which will be looking bright and festive this year.

Anna Hayes from Maori Weaving Rotorua, a newly opened inner city retail store which showcases locally woven products, has woven 16 metres of harakeke rope and 30 muka ties, from which locally made wooden decorations will hang to give the city’s public Christmas tree a uniquely local flavour.

Pleased to be involved in the project, Ms Hayes (pictured above with the harakeke rope and muka ties) learnt her craft in Rotorua and is particularly pleased about harakeke being incorporated into the decorations for the tree.
“While for centuries the Northern hemisphere have used evergreen trees as a symbol of life in the midst of winter, Maori have always acknowledged the harakeke plant as whanau, and after all is that not what life is about? Tihei mauri ora! (Let there be life!).”

The tree will be fully decked out and looking bright and festive this year and a small ceremony will be held under the tree at 7pm next Thursday, 1 December to mark the tree lights being switched on.

The public are invited along to enjoy the singing and music, featuring the Western Heights High School Choir, led by Evelyn Falconer, and the Salvation Army Band. People are also encouraged to bring along a can to go towards the Rotorua Daily Post Salvation Army Christmas Appeal which aims to re-stock the organisation’s foodbank.

Thursday night’s ceremony will coincide with the summer extension of the weekly Rotorua Night Market and market goers will be invited to gather around the tree for the lighting ceremony.

The metal-framed Christmas tree which was erected for the first time last year replaced its metal-framed predecessor which was made in 2012.

While last year the tree was sparsely decorated it will be much better dressed this festive season, decked out in green tinsel to cover its frame and with decorations including locally made wooden creations hung on harakeke rope.

“Last year we also found that some of the decorations we had were either past their use-by date or damaged and couldn’t be re-used,” Rotorua Lakes Council project manager Mandy Godo says. “This year we have had advice from a company which supplies decorations to many councils and commercial sized decorations were ordered well in advance. The best possible job was done last year in an extremely tight timeframe.

“This year, we have a wonderful mixture of classic decorations as well as some locally made wooden ones, reflecting Rotorua’s culture, which will hang on harakeke rope,” Mrs Godo says.

The new tree replaced the metal tree which was erected in 2012, was extended in 2013 at the request of the public but was damaged when it was toppled by wind in 2014. It was repaired and re-erected to see through that Christmas/New Year but sustained permanent damage and when assessed by council staff last November, was deemed unsafe to use.

A new metal-framed tree was built by a local company, constructed in sections that interlock and can be added to in future if desired. It is designed to last for 15 years and with a custom made concrete base that is bolted to the tree, is safer and more stable than its predecessor.

The tree will take several days to put together and decorate, ready for the ceremony on Thursday night.

The Christmas tree will add to the lighting already established in the inner city through the Light Rotorua campaign which encouraged retailers to light up their verandahs and windows. Several alleyways in the central city are also lit, along with trees along Arawa Street and more recently, the ginkgo tree in Kuirau Park, at the intersection of Arawa and Ranolf streets. This week one of Rotorua’s former official public Christmas trees, the sequoia on the lake shore in line with the end of Fenton Street was lit to add some festive cheer at the lakefront.

“As with the tree decorations, we’ve found many of the street garlands are also past their use-by date,” Mrs Godo says. “We’ll work with the Inner City Focus Group in the coming year regarding decorations for next Christmas. Dressing the tree was the top priority this year.”

Rotorua’s Christmas trees

In the early 1980s a sequoia outside the city iSite was decorated as Rotorua’s public Christmas tree but had to be removed when thermal activity saw its condition deteriorate.

A replacement sequoia was planted at the lakefront and was decorated with lights for a few years once large enough until the focus of Rotorua’s main street changed from Fenton Street to Tutanekai Street.

In the late 1980s a tree was installed in the central city’s pedestrian mall on Tutanekai Street, between Hinemoa and Pukuatua streets.

In the early 1990s when the City Focus was built a pine tree was cut each year and installed there but these did not often hold their condition for the 5 weeks they were up and were considered a fire risk with the sails above.

In 2000 a pine was transplanted into a pot which was installed in the City Focus but this tree was deemed too small and its health suffered due to being constricted in a pot so it was replaced in 2012 with a metal-framed tree.

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