Timaru District community facilities have seen record attendances thanks to a Sunsational new competition.

The event, organised by Timaru District Council was created with young families in mind during the long summer break. People collected a free bingo card from one of the participating venues and 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 complete one line of the bingo card collected a limited edition badge, two lines enabled you to redeem a swim at CBay or any of the other district pools.

Three lines on the card qualified you for the badge and swim, plus entered you for the prize draw for one of the major prizes; book vouchers, garden vouchers, a tablet and a computer.

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

South Canterbury Museum Director Philip Howe said that they had hoped the challenges would help highlight the wealth of affordable activities there were across the district.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

The Temuka Courthouse Museum is open once a week during the summer season. Sunsational helped bring approximately 243 visitors the museum by the sixth day of the season.

“It’s great that so many people took this opportunity to discover the great variety of activities on our doorsteps.”

The draw for the major prizes was made under police supervision on Wednesday 3 February, the winners were:

LAPTOP TABLET

Emmy Johnston Isobel Taite

BOOK VOUCHERS GARDEN VOUCHERS

Milla Paterson Pearl Bailey

Maci Baird Arya McAuley

Jordy Low Maslin Brook

Jack Taite Sophia Peck

Phoebe Pearson Esther Pearson

Piper Marsh Arabell

Lilly Taylor Brianna Codyre

Delilah Walter Florain Susilo

Aiden Walter Esme Tombs

Ronan Oliver Jackson Cooper

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