Community call out for Christmas Pageant
After organising a highly successful GFG Alliance Christmas Pageant last year, Whyalla City Council is looking for interested community groups to run the event and ensure this year’s is just as popular!
Council agreed to coordinate last year’s pageant after previous organisers Apex struggled for volunteers and were unable to give the pageant the attention it needed.
Mayor Phill Stone said the intention was always to hand the event management reigns back to the community.
“This is an event that is all about the community, so we think it’s important there’s a group of passionate residents representing their city in delivering the pageant,” Mayor Stone said.
“We’re calling on volunteer groups, individuals, clubs, organisations – anyone who loves Whyalla and the pageant and wants to see it continue for many years to come.
“Council is happy to continue to provide the support it always has to Apex, but it was never our intention to coordinate the pageant long-term.”
To assist in ensuring future pageants reflect the community’s priorities, council sought community feedback via a survey on various elements of the event, which saw nearly 500 residents have their say on what they enjoyed and what could be improved.
Some of the key results included:
- About 49% preferred the pageant to take place at the previous location on Forsyth Street, while about 41% preferred Nicolson Avenue (10% had no preference)
- Somewhat contradicting this, ~64% of respondents said they were satisfied with the more central location, so it’s unclear which location is preferred
- 48% of people voted for the carols and the pageant to be held on the same day, with 44% voting against (~8% had no preference)
- Despite being passionate about the pageant continuing and improving, only 9.8% of respondents said they would like to volunteer for the 2024 event
Any groups interested in organising this year’s pageant is strongly encouraged to send an expression of interest to council as soon as possible, addressed to the events team at council@whyalla.sa.gov.au. You can also call us on 8640 3444 to discuss the possibility and ask questions.
More information on the event – including more in-depth survey results and possible improvements / opportunities for future organisers (such as incentives and grants for float construction, music stationed along the route etc) – can be found in the council report from page 58 onwards here: https://bit.ly/3VK3cDv