Get ready for a magical Christmas in the BIG little City

21 November 2012

Get ready for a magical Christmas in the BIG little City

Imagine Auckland’s central city decorated in doves, angels and soft globe lights, colourful hanging paper chains, oversized Christmas baubles and gigantic reindeer standing either side of Auckland’s favourite and iconic Giant Santa. Well, imagine no longer… Heart of the City is transforming Auckland’s BIG little City into a magical Christmas Wonderland, this holiday season.

In a new addition for 2012, Queen Street will be adorned with innovative, urban lights, designed and produced by local creative team Fresh Concept, which will be switched on for the first time on 29th November. The beautiful pentagon light installations will decorate the main street of Auckland, both day and night, injecting a modern urban feel and fresh energy into the city.

The Queen Street lights will add significant attention to the existing decorations and will be installed in time for the Santa Parade this weekend. Make sure you watch out for our time-lapse video of the lights being installed and turned on for the first time.

Alex Swney, CEO of Heart of the City, says “Christmas lights say it’s Christmas like nothing else. They say the Christmas season has arrived … and we know with that comes the anticipation of gifts – to be given and received.

“It’s a great time for retail. Every year it gets better in the city, and this year we are adding another piece to our urban Christmas story with a great new set of Christmas lights.”

All the festive favourites are back for another helping, including the spectacular Telecom Christmas Tree going into Victoria Park, Santa’s Enchanted Forest and Christmas Windows at Smith & Caughey’s, the Auckland Symphony Orchestra Christmas Celebration and of course the iconic 52-year-old Santa on the Whitcoulls Corner standing at an impressive 25m tall!

For a second year, Aotea Square will turn into a hive of live performance and theatre for Christmas shoppers to be entertained by. ‘Unwrapping Christmas in the BIG little City’ is a three-week FREE programme that will spread festive joy through live music, theatre performances and spectacular Christmas markets. Dance the night away at ‘Bandstand Under the Stars’ evening classes in Salsa, Bollywood, Swing, Ballroom and Celtic Ceilidh! See the Square come alive with Random Acts or simply lounge on a deck chair with a game of giant Connect 4.

Wynyard Quarter will sprinkle the Christmas sparkle down by the sea with a Christmas-themed Silo Cinema, night markets, family workshops and an interactive advent calendar to reveal a new Christmas scene each day. St Paul’s church are also inviting people to participate in Carols by Glow Stick at Vector Arena, and the Basement Theatre’s show of ‘Mega Christmas’ will indulge in the sillier side of the season.

Christmas inspiration also just got easier with the launch of the ‘Cracker Deals’ Facebook App. Each day between 1-24 December, there will be three new city deals available online to take advantage from, check it out at www.facebook.com/BIGlittlecityAKLD or via www.biglittlecity.co.nz.

Make sure you check out the diverse and unique range of retail stores jam-packed full of gifts only the BIG little City can offer. Add to that, late-night shopping in Britomart, specially discounted parking rates at Auckland Transport car parking buildings (Downtown, Victoria Street & The Civic), Christmas concerts, markets, food and much more - unwrap a month-long of Christmas events and experience all the festive wonders on offer.

Have yourself a BIG little Christmas and experience all the wonders you won’t find anywhere else, this Christmas.

ENDS

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