Summer promotion sees Timaru District community facilities attract record attendances

Timaru District Council has advised that its community facilities have seen record attendances over summer, boosted by its 'Sunsational' promotion.

Created with young families in mind during the long summer break, the promotion saw people collected a free bingo card from one of the participating venues on which they then began ticking off activities throughout the District.

The card set unique challenges at South Canterbury Museum, Timaru District Libraries, Temuka Courthouse Museum, Geraldine Historical Museum, CBay Aquatic Centre, Aigantighe Art Gallery and the main parks.

Those who completed one line of the bingo card collected a limited-edition badge while two lines secured a swim at CBay or any of the other district pools.

Three lines on the card qualified the entrant for the badge and swim, while also see the holder entered into a draw for prizes including book vouchers, garden vouchers, a tablet and a computer.

More than 1000 people collected a challenge form from one of the Council's participating venues, double the participation from a similar activity in 2019.

Explaining that the promotion was created to highlight the wealth of affordable activities there were across the district, South Canterbury Museum Director, Philip Howe stated "we know it can be tough for parents keep their kids entertained through the school holidays, so as well as being a fun activity for kids, it also provided parents with a useful list of things to do over the period.

“While it provided a boost to our main facilities, it was also a great opportunity to highlight some of the smaller, community run museums in the district. Temuka Courthouse Museum reported that they had experienced more than double the amount of visitors that they anticipate for this point of the season.”

Among venues boosted by the promotion, the Temuka Courthouse Museum, open once a week during the summer season, recorded more than 240 visitors by the sixth day of the season.

Commenting on this, Howe added "it’s great that so many people took this opportunity to discover the great variety of activities on our doorsteps.”

Image: South Canterbury Museum. Credit: Timaru District Council.