Christmas Pageant - Adelaide 2010

Yes people! Christmas is almost here.

To mark the imminent celebrations, Adelaide plays host to a Christmas Pageant every year.

There are floats, bands, clowns, dancers, Pageant Royalty...you name it, it's there. Oh, and a huge dollop of magic too.

The sets, of which I think there are now almost 100, parade around Adelaide, leading Santa Claus, on his sleigh, to his Magic Cave (we call this Santa's Grotto in the UK).

The pageant took place yesterday. Here is some footage for you. This was taken at the very end of the pageant, so most of the floats and bands had went past already...



This tradition of holding a Christmas Pageant in Adelaide was started in 1933, by Sir Edward Hayward, who owned John Martins Department store.

David Jones bought over John Martins, and sold the rights of the pageant to the South Australian Government.

The Christmas Pageant is now organised and delivered by Events South Australia, the major events division of the South Australian Tourism Commission, along with sponsorship from the Credit Union and various other sources such as David Jones, Adelaide City Council and the SA Police. You can find out more about the pageant here.

Having Christmas in Summer is probably always going to be strange for me, as the seasons are reversed back home in Scotland, but having something like the Christmas Pageant makes it all feel a bit more real.