The premature revelation that a Hero Parade is on the cards for next year's Hero Festival is "unfortunate and annoying" says a Hero trustee, but the Trust remains hopeful negotiations with key stakeholders will not be adversely affected. Trustee Michael Bancroft was commenting on an article in the Herald on Sunday which broke the news of a possible rerturn of the high profile Hero Parade, despite Hero hoping its consideration of a return of the parade could be kept under wraps until the project is closer to confirmation. "That story annoyed me," he says, "because the Trust Board has tried hard to stop things being prematurely announced until we had some certainty in place." Bancroft says there have been only "preliminary negotiations" so far with stakeholders, including an event manager who has presented a proposal, and just one of a number of sponsors, 42Below vodka, who will need to be brought on board. "We have been very careful not to preempt any conditions we might have to negotiate with groups such as the Council, police and business associations," says Bancroft. "But everyone we have informally discussed the idea with, including the NZ AIDS Foundation, seems keen. Bancroft says that to his knowledge the discussions with key stakeholders have only taken place over the past two weeks. Discussions with the City Council regarding the parade route and conditions attached to its use have not yet commenced and this was a primary reason for Hero holding off on formally announcing the posibility of a parade. "We were advised not to go public yet until the Council had been properly sounded out," says Bancroft. But the Herald on Sunday's Jonathan Marshall, a one-time Queer Nation reporter, ran a story based on information from 42Below's PR agency and, it is understood, other gay people who were aware of the Parade possibility. Marshall spoke with Hero Brand Management group member Michael Modrich who gave some hypothetical information, but he did not speak with the Trust to ascertain its position. Now that its hand has been publicly revealed Bancroft says a formal statement should be made by Hero within 24 hours. Ref: GayNZ.com (j)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Monday, 26th February 2007 - 12:00pm