A Christmas Wonder Park is going to be held for the very first time at Barry Curtis Park, Flat Bush on December 15 from 12noon to 6pm.
There will be carols on the greens, a Christmas story walk-through that tells the traditional Christmas story in a modern way, fun and games as well as entertainment stalls.
Music performances, international food stalls and information stalls for each community group as well as the Howick Local Board will be there to connect to the community.
Joshua Yang, a pastor with New Hope Community Trust based in Botany, says he came up with the idea of hosting a one-day celebration for Christmas in the heart of a new and growing community along with Local Howick Board member Mike Turinsky, also a pastor with the New Hope Community Trust.
He says that the vision of this event is to bring different cultural groups, various business parties, religious organisations and government officials in the area together, “to build a sense of community with the most important celebration of the year, reflecting a true Christmas spirit”.
Joshua says his passion has always been to bring the community together.
“I have organised a similar event in St Heliers where school choirs and community groups came to together to present Carols on the Green; the idea was to bring them together, where schools and community groups (both Kiwi and multicultural groups) present their performances,” he says.
Macleans College students have designed the Christmas Walkthrough and schools like Mission Heights Jr College, Pakuranga Intermediate, Tindal Park Primary and Botany Downs Secondary College are also involved in the event.
He says that a similar event was held two years ago in a school courtyard by Ormiston Community Vision and was sponsored by the local board.
“We developed on what has been done before and bring this event to a public park where there it reaches out to the entire community and gets them involved.”
