Ho ho hold you horses, "Merry Christmas" isn't on our naughty list
Published on 18 December 2024
At Darebin, we want to make it clear that we absolutely do celebrate Christmas.
In fact, we've decked the halls so far with:
- 12 Christmas activations across Darebin
- 11 choir and orchestra performances spreading Christmas cheer
- 10+ mentions of Christmas on our Darebin Celebrates web page
- 9 festive music events
- 8 illuminated reindeer at Northcote Civic Centre
- 7 social media mentions of Christmas
- 6interactive angel wings for fun festive photos
- 5K of funding each for Christmas decorations at four Darebin activity centres
- 4 Christmas gift wrapping workshops at Darebin libraries
- 3 sparkling Christmas trees and glowing fairy light displays
- 2 festive window installations
- 1 video featuring our Mayor wishing Darebin a Happy Christmas!
...but we did skip the partridge in a pear tree... sorry we couldn't find one.
We have installed a Christmas Tree at Preston Town Hall this year, Christmas trees in multiple key activity centres throughout Darebin and other decorations including the reindeers who have landed at Northcote Town Hall (and they are keen for visitors), and
festive wings dotted around on shop windows.
Traditional Christmas displays and decorations have strong presence in Darebin’s key activity centres and selected shopping strips, delivered by Darebin’s four Trader’s Associations (Preston, Northcote, Fairfield and Reservoir) with each receiving a $5k contribution from Council.
We also have Christmas song performances as a way for the community to celebrate and connect in Darebin.
Darebin is a uniquely diverse and vibrant community, and we celebrate Christmas, as well as embrace and honour the many ways our residents come together at this time of year.
Darebin Celebrates is our year-long campaign that covers many holidays, including Christmas - we'll also be tapping into this campaign for other celebrations like Lunar New year.
In line with our sustainability goals, we have decided to trial the reduction of some plastic decorations as part of this year’s festive season program. Instead, we will be focusing on providing opportunities for our community to connect and celebrate together. We’ll be seeking community feedback on this trial ahead of planning for next year.