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Source: ONE News
Super City candidate Simon Prast says Auckland is becoming "mirthless" and he is calling for a return of the Hero Parade.
Prast says Auckland has "lost so much" and he wants to restore those things and for the parade to be supported by the new council.
Prast is best known for acting in the 1980s TV soap Gloss and for founding the Auckland Theatre Company and says he has always had a great passion for Auckland.
The Hero Parade ran successfully in Ponsonby in the 1990s but folded when it couldn't meet the spiralling running costs. Retailers say it brought in more money than Christmas trading and many locals want it back.
Talk about the parade is the first sign of glitz in a mayoral campaign that has been dominated by the spending habits of high profile candidates. Current mayor John Banks wouldn't be drawn either way about the parade but Manukau mayor Len Brown likes the idea of the parade being reinstated provided a business case can be made.
Ewan Gilmore is not totalled committed to the idea while Penny Bright told ONE News she supports events that celebrate diversity.
North Shore mayor Andrew Williams says parades have become horrendously expensive to run and Auckland should build in the Big Gay Out and make it even bigger and brighter.
But new entry Colin Craig says he won't support events with adult themes.
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