Glow popularity gives council plenty to ponder
From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The future of Glow in the Park looks bright - but isn’t locked in yet.
The second year of the light festival in the Tinwald Domain attracted more than 17,000 people over two nights at the weekend, before rain washed out the third night on Sunday.
Even with one night scrapped, it meant crowd figures were well above the inaugural 2022 event, which had around 10,000 people over the three nights.
Despite the popularity of the event, there is no guarantee it returns in 2024, council chief executive Hamish Riach said.
“We’re currently gathering feedback from attendees, so we can make further improvements if Glow returns next year.
“We’re yet to confirm our event calendar for 2024, so we can’t promise that Glow will return at this stage.
“We’re absolutely delighted with the number of people who visited over the weekend and it’s clear from the very positive feedback we’ve received, that the event has strong community support."
Ashburton mayor Neil Brown hailed Glow as an excellent event, with the only snag being “it took a little while to get there... because it was so popular the roads were congested”.
“Perhaps we do need another bridge."
The inaugural Glow was held to celebrate EA Networks centenary and “it was so popular we thought why not do this again”, Brown said.
“We get sponsors on board which is good so it doesn’t cost the ratepayer much money at all and it is a free event.
“It is popular and we can probably build on it even more.”
The review into the event is already underway, with the public survey released to gather feedback before a council debrief will consider the future of the event, Riach said.
For the 2023 Glow, the council set aside $15,000 from its community event budget, he said, but the event “was largely made possible through the generous support of our event sponsors and volunteers”.
“We’re still tallying the final costs and income from the weekend, but we’re hopeful that the event will be delivered on or slightly under budget."
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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62% Summer
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36.5% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
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