Happy Birthday Jesus and a Cheeky Camel

It was a very warm and windy Saturday morning. Christmas songs, chattering, nervous giggles, bagpipes warming up, diesel engines starting up and calls to “find your place” swirl around the children, adults and vehicles as the Launceston Christmas Parade starts to come to life. Many hours of planning, preparation and hard work is about to come to fruition as the participants join up and start their walk along Tamar street, smiles fixed and last minute costume adjustments just before turning on to St John St. The reason we are all here becomes obvious as the parade participants see the wonder on the faces of the children and parents lined up along the footpaths along the street.

A late night Facebook Post from Launceston Lions Club inviting participants to join the Chistmas Parade caught my eye, just four weeks out from the event and we put through our expression of interest, 10 days later and we were accepted to join the fun. Having never participated in an actual parade ebfore this was new ground for us; What do we do?; 16 Days to go

We decided to recreate the Christmas Nativity and discounted the ability to create a float in that period of time, so a walking Nativity it would be. David Swift presented a potential involvement of a camel costume within the entry, that would work perfectly with our inclusion of the three Magi.

During preparation the reality of very young and young at heart people walking for 60mins was not going to be a good option. We reached out for direction from Michael Vos as to where we could locate a truck or suitable vehicle for the participants comfort and through VOS Construction we were generously donated the use of a small truck…yay!!! Costumes were ordered for the Nativity theme; 13 Days out

The Parade Participants list was circulated to all groups by the organisers. It was then I realised there were 2 other Christian groups participating and the Nativity may be over represented. Was there something else we could do that would still honour the birth of Jesus and the real purpose of Christmas without doing a Nativity?; 6 Days out

Looking around our Hope Costumes & Thrift Store and all the sequinned costumes the option was put forward why don’t we hold a celebration on the float? Yes, heaps of colour, sequins and activity that would work. Then Peter came up with the winning idea; How about Happy Birthday Jesus? Yes, Yes, Yes; 4 Days out.

During this time we had been reaching out to our own youth program participants, staff and volunteers and our wider circles of connection for participants within the parade. Considering many of our young people are struggling with mental health, self-worth and social anxiety just to name a few it was unlikely we would get many takers from our end. Our numbers at this stage were very limited and no one had measured up for costumes as we hadn’t been able to lock away the Float theme previously.

One thing we knew we would include and it definitely worked with the Happy Birthday Jesus, party theme was the Three Magi, whom all brought gifts to a little Jesus. David, whom had connected with us with the idea of a camel costume that he may be able to borrow from the Pilgrim Uniting Church of Launceston, confirmed he could use the Camel costume and we were able to pick up the Truck from VOS Constructions ready for fitout; 2 Days out.

My Dad (aka Shane) was called in last moment to help me build the float structure within the float. A very warm day and a few trips to Bunnings and he built a structure that would stand up to the flexibility of the motion of driving. Thanks heaps Dad, you’re a star. Then the decoration began. Two angels in the bodies of Heather Grynglas & Angela Stingle arrived to commence the decorations and what a relief it was to have extra hands. We used a lot of Tinsel! Whilst this was going on Elle, Evie, Helen, Kaydian, Deackan, Jaymz, Paige, Ez, Jessica arrived to get fitted out for the fun with our Hope Costumes & Thrift store team; 1 Day out.

The morning of the event was Hot and windy. Yay for summers arrival, but not so great for decorations and people sitting in a float for over an hour. Heather met me at the Tramshed Carpark, as we put the signs on the framework donated by Sign Fairy Launceston (unashamed plug 10% of all bookings goes to Teen Challenge Tas).

We slowly drove the float and Kia Carnival around to Tamar street marshalling area to complete the fit out and get ready. Metallic curtains were battled (remember the wind, not an easy task), massive christmas gifts (wrapped by Paige & Helen) were onboarded, seating, final touches to the decorations, speaker & music sorted (Andy Williams Christmas Bells was our choice which was in alignment with the Parades theme of “With Bells on” AND proclaimed whose Birthday it was), water and snacks to keep everyone hydrated and happy, Kia decorated and mascot/unofficial support dog Indie tinselled up and in the car with Paige alongside, opting out of wearing a costume but hanging out with the dog instead, these things happen.

Costumes donned, Camel ready (at the very last minute mind you, poor David, it was incredibly hot and then under the weight and depth of coverings of the costume he was going to cook), Everyone on board and then we realised the parade had already started and we had to move off pronto!!; Day 0

I have to say the rest was a bit of a hot, noisy, happy, sunburnt blur, as one of the Magi my attention was fully taken with this very friendly and cheeky camel, who needed some costume alterations along the route, keeping us in line with everyone else. Many times the other Magi got tired of us and moved ahead (probably happened in real life too), one stage found myself and the camel way ahead of our leading car (with no clue as to how that happened)!

What really stuck out to me was the interaction with the young and young at heart along the route. Our lovely camel was making friends wherever he went, evoking pats and peals of laughter to sneeking up and saying “Boo”, “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Birthday Jesus” and “Please Don’t take my photo madam I’m camera shy”. Everyone was waving and smiling and calling out encouragement. Launceston was happy to have its Christmas Parade back after the years of Covid stopping it. People were everywhere along the route.

Reports from the rest of the team was how much fun they had waving to everyone, posing for photos, even our Indie dog had fans, some racing over to the Kia for a sneaky pat. One young participant on the float lasted the whole distance waving and being his best wolf (we were not sure he was going to be able to go the distance but he did) Then it was over - what a Blast! Such a privilege to be a part of something that brought joy to so many within our community and for our part, showed the true meaning behind this celebration of Christmas - the Birth of Jesus!

I didn’t realise it at the beginning, but there were prizes for the best entry that met various criteria - Best Musical, Best Theme, Mayors Choice etc. We were not successful for any of these and very worthwhile and brilliant entries won these catagories. Then we learnt there was a People’s Choice Award run by ChilliFM for the entry that people voted was the best, it was to be announced a week after the event. I had promoted this within our social media but then got lost in the extreme busyness of other events at this time of the year, it left my thoughts.

I received an email just before midnight Sunday to inform us that we had won the Peoples Choice Award and it was being announced on ChilliFM the following morning. Of 7500 votes we received 1500 which was 20% of the Votes. Well, Happy Birthday Jesus you won!!! with a little help from one very cheeky Camel, who loves you with all his heart. (Happy Dance Inserted here)

What a great experience and with soooo much help from so many people. Thankyou everyone for your preparation, participation, inspiration, prayers and votes. We are already in preparation for next years entry into this event, if you would like to be involved please connect with us. We highly encourage many more organisations especially from the Christian community to celebrate the meaning of Christmas within our community through this very fun intitiative. Massive Thankyou to the Lions Club of Launceston, their countless Volunteers and the City of Launceston for allowing such a brilliant event to come back to life.