It has been grounded for the past two parades because it did not fit down the revamped George St.
After shortening its wingspan, the Dunedin Santa Parade Trust is preparing to send it down the street again on Sunday, trust chairman John Marsh said.
"We've had to tuck its wings. George St's a bit narrower now because of the upgrades there."
Eighty floats are participating and more than 700 cones will line the footpaths to keep the expected crowd of 20,000 at bay.
"It's Dunedin’s biggest community event and it's free for everyone, so there's no excuse not to have all the families there and have a good time."
Unlike the Christchurch Christmas Show Parade, Santa and his entourage have not been told they have to wear seatbelts. Some floats had barriers and seatbelts, but most were supervised by adults and did not have seats, so having a seatbelt was difficult, he said.
"It’s best to keep it safe. We take it pretty seriously."
"There's a core team of about seven of us, all volunteers and [we] put a lot of hours into it.
"Certainly the reward is just the children, the families, the joy they get and it's a good start to the Christmas festive season."
The parade starts at the intersection of George St and Regent St at 3pm and travels down George St through the Octagon and finishes in Moray Pl, near First Church.
MetService has forecast a partly cloudy day with southeasterlies developing.
Dunedin City Council deputy mayor Cherry Lucas said it would be great to see the parade make its way down a revamped George St.
"It promises to be a fantastic festive weekend for families and we hope to see plenty of whānau out and about enjoying this special time of year."
