The Hero Parade may well return to Ponsonby Road in 2005, says Hero Brand Management Group spokesman Barry Davis. With the festival's $140,000 debt signed off by creditors after a settlement deal was offered by the brand management group, the Hero Trust is now legally entitled to trade, but there is not enough time to organise a parade in time for 2004. However, organisers of the AK05 arts festival are looking at making the Hero Parade a key part of their programme. A group of gay Auckland businessmen stepped in late last year to clear bills incurred by the bankrupt Hero Charitable Trust. This year's Hero Festival, a scaled-down affair which put responsibility for events into the hands of individual organisers with the Trust playing a co-ordinating role, is to be the model for future Hero festivals. "It should see the trust operate so as to avoid the pitfalls of the past", says Davis.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 29th October 2003 - 12:00pm