Auckland's 'creepy' Santa gets the sack
Auckland's Santa, which has proudly towered above Queen Street for almost 60 years, is being retired after this year's festive season. First installed in 1960 on the Farmers building on Hobson street the 19-metre statue has polarised Aucklanders. In 2011 he was named as the world's most unintentionally creepy Christmas decoration by Cracked.com. An attempt to retire him in 2014 was met with backlash by the public and a number of companies banded together to keep him going. A statement from Heart of the City, who owns the statue, said it was costing too much to maintain the weary Santa and it was time to retire him. "We know Santa is well-loved by many Aucklanders," said Viv Beck, CEO of Heart of the City. "But sadly, for a combination of reasons it is time to retire this model." "We love Santa too so it wasn’t an easy decision. However this is not the end of Christmas in the city centre. "We’re already underway in thinking about how Christmas could be celebrated here in the future, and in the new year we will involve the city centre community in exploring what Christmas 2020 and beyond could look like."
Santa will go up for the final time on November 10 and will be taken down on January 10. "We want to provide Aucklanders with the opportunity to say goodbye to Santa. Christmas is a time for joy and celebration and we’re sure many of us have fond memories of him," Beck said. Memories and photos can be uploaded to heartofthecity.co.nz, emailed to farewellsanta@hotcity.co.nz or shared on Instagram and Facebook using #FarewellSanta. They'll then be published to a dedicated page on heartofthecity.co.nz/farewellsanta.
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What word sums up 2024, neighbours?
If 2020 was the year of lockdowns, banana bread, and WFH (work from home)....
In one word, how would you define 2024?
We're excited to see what you come up with!
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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62.8% Summer
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35.8% Winter
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1.4% Other - I'll share below
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
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