There was a parade in the village today. No big brass drum. Just a lone Scottish piper standing on a farm trailer, pulled by an ancient farm vehicle that could loosely be called a tractor.
Maungakaramea is celebrating 150 years of settlement. And the local folk have worked extremely hard to put together a weekend of celebrations.
I want to show you my highlights from the parade. I was surprised there were so many spectators - where on earth did they all come from?
We hear the bagpipes. It's coming! All heads turn to the right, including my neighbour, this little angel with a front to back crown.
Maungakaramea is celebrating 150 years of settlement. And the local folk have worked extremely hard to put together a weekend of celebrations.
I want to show you my highlights from the parade. I was surprised there were so many spectators - where on earth did they all come from?
We hear the bagpipes. It's coming! All heads turn to the right, including my neighbour, this little angel with a front to back crown.
Isn't she delightful?
Here's the lone piper leading the parade, playing Scotland the Brave, a tribute to the early Scottish settlers of the district.
A shortage of reindeer in these parts...
But plenty of trucks...
Look, there's two of my grand-daughters on that one. Krystal in silver and green and little Georgia in red and black, wearing their costumes from the Wearable Arts Show earlier this year.
and tractors...
Lots of old guys proudly driving their sparkling clean tractors:
and my favourite tractor:
and a milkmaid...
vintage cars...
All the service and sports clubs were represented including, for that Hebridean in New Zealand, the Croquet Club...
Truly, it was a grand parade for a great little village.
I will post the photos of the kids tomorrow. This lot above was taking so long to upload I started to mow the lawn and came in to check after finishing the front yard.....still going! Hopefully tomorrow I will have a better connection with the rest of the world.
Those farmers in the tractors must be so proud of their iron horses.
ReplyDeleteNZ is a funny place, when there is a special occassion, the people turn up. I once went to the Matakina farmer's market. There were so many people.
For 10 years Linda and I lived in the small Northern Ontario village of Powassan, where parades like this one were held every year. There was something much more real and appropriate about them that gets lost in the flash of parades here in the big city.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos, by the way.
My daughter's partner's grandfather (yes, I know I'm getting a bit obscure there) is a tractor fiend - he would have fainted with sheer delight at all those old tractors. Sadly in the UK we tend to scrap everything after a couple of years.
ReplyDeletePauline a superb set, was disappointed in the relative paucity of sheep. Have we eaten them all?
ReplyDeleteI revelled in those photos and can so relate to them. There is something real and tangible about celebrations like that here in New Zealand. The Napier Art Deco week is, of course, much larger but it still has an intimacy.
ReplyDeleteLovely parade - everybody has a chance to be a star! And I think even I would have considered becoming a shepherd, if it meant I could work on horseback ...
ReplyDelete