After a weather bomb caused the 2023 parade to be cancelled, a big crowd was back for the 2024 Raglan Community New Year’s Eve Parade in Bow Street. The parade is organised and sponsored by the Raglan Lions Club. Although rain and wind earlier in the day caused some worry, by the 7pm start time, it was all clear for the parade to start. The NYE parade draws entrants from local businesses, organisations and whanau. This year saw a large number of marching and dancing participants with the traditional Highland Band, complemented by Samba Nation, Foxy Squirrels and Prairie Dawgs, otherwise known as the Raglan Line Dancers, and Raglan Art to Wear performers. This year the parade was fifteen minutes long. With the traditional twice round the median strip palms making it thirty minutes long overall. The longer length caused an issue as the parade tail had not cleared the bottom of Bow Street, when the parade head with the highland band was ready to start its second loop.
