A Flight Centre travel agent in a small town in New Zealand has been the inspiration for a street parade to thank essential workers during the country’s Covid-19 lockdown.
Emily Rayner, from Flight Centre Palmerston North, said she and a friend organised the parade in Marton “to celebrate community business and friendship in the small community of Marton, the heart of Rangitiki, New Zealand”.
The pair teamed up with schools and stores in the town to thank the essential workers who worked through the alert levels of lockdown.
“We also wanted to promote shopping local to mark coming out of lockdown,” she said.
“We encouraged retailers to decorate their windows with a message of thanks. The pipe band led the parade. The local schools decorated banners and led each group of essential workers who wanted to walk in the parade.”
Rayner said a travel consultant's role “is to care about others, so I easily transferred that feeling into this one”.