Seven Sharp reporter Michael Holland takes a look at the wonderful "fantasy world" of parade float builder Peter Taylor.
It's a world inhabited by furry and cuddly, whimsical fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters, right through to a jolly old gentleman with a pronounced puku.
Seventy-four-year Taylor struggles to come up with an appropriate job title that adequately covers his 50 years designing and building floats for the annual Auckland Farmers Santa Parade.
Peter Taylor has designed and built floats for Auckland’s Santa Parade for 50 years. (Source: Seven Sharp)
To me, the most fitting title would be "the institution behind the institution."
Taylor, though, is far too modest to agree.
When I dare suggest how clever he is, his reply is almost bashful: "I would be pretty embarrassed to think you would say that."
Taylor tinkers away through the year in a large basement storage area mostly on his own.
"It's peaceful and I'm happy down here, just doing my own thing. It's how the world should be."
The calm allows for exacting creativity.
His preoccupation during my visit was the size of the tongue extending from the mouth of a cheery elf. The elf will be the star-turn on a new float later this month called Elf On A Shelf.
"It's annoying me. It's too big, I'm going to cut it down," he said. The polystyrene tongue was quickly re-sized with a blade.
Taylor eventually proclaimed himself happy after reinserting it and positioning it to poke out in the opposite direction to what he originally intended. He accepted that kiddies lining the parade route would be none the wiser, but said even the smallest details have to be "just so" for him.
Taylor was first employed as a school leaver in the display department at the Farmers Trading Company, and quickly found his place working on Christmas Parade floats.
In short, a happy young man finds a happy place.
He spoke of the fond affection the Farmers' executives had for the parade when he first joined.
"I remember back in the day, the managing director and general managers all took so much pride in the parade, they loved it so much."
Management insists on approving conceptual drawings for all new floats.
In Taylor's earlier years working on the parade, the late 70s through to the 80s, the larger-than-life characters on the floats were crafted from wooden frames, covered in wire and then shaped with paper mache - brown Farmers wrapping paper, of course.
These days, the figures are shaped from polystyrene, which is faster and allows greater creativity and flexibility.
Not surprisingly, Taylor was not short of a story or two of parades that didn't go entirely to plan.
There was the float featuring a huge Farmers bag of presents that was too high for a gantry on Nelson St and ended up with presents scattered over Nelson St. The pregnant cat that gave birth in Santa's cave, with kittens making a dash every which way along Queen St.
Cue a corny line about Santa having kittens when his float was forced to stop.
For those attending this year's parade - November 26 at 1 pm - keep an eye out for Alf On A Shelf. The four children waving back at you will be Taylor's grandchildren.
I get the feeling he'll be as proud of that as he is of his creative contributions to the parade over the last half a century.
And who knows one day there just might be a float honouring the man himself.
"Float my own boat you reckon? Carve myself out of polystyrene?"
He wasn't so sure, as he started to blush.
After all, as he put it he's the bloke in the basement, in the background just doing his thing.
Merry (early) Christmas to you Mister Magic, and here's to many more beautiful designs to make young eyes pop.
SHARE ME