Around 45,000 people visited Glow in the Park in the Ashburton Domain at the weekend.
It was a visual delight with floral lighting, love heart displays and dinosaurs as standout attractions.
Council group manager compliance and development Ian Hyde said good weather had drawn people in from near, and as far afield as Timaru and Christchurch.
He said feedback on the annual event had been very positive, with an event survey recording an average satisfaction rating of 9.4 out of 10.
‘‘The weather was ideal and it was great to see so many families out enjoying the event,’’ he said.
Hyde said around 12,000 people visited on Friday, 20,000 on Saturday, and 13,000 on Sunday.
‘‘These figures are based on clicker data collected along the light route, alongside informed estimates from experienced onsite contractors who regularly work in these environments and are skilled in crowd assessment.’’
He said an onsite survey identified just over half of visitors were from within Mid Canterbury and the remainder mostly from Christchurch, Selwyn and Timaru with about three-quarters of those visitors having attended Glow previously.
‘‘We’ll take some time to review the event, but overall, we’re very pleased with how it ran,’’ he said.
‘‘We believe that Glow continues to deliver a positive economic impact for the Ashburton District, with 43 per cent of survey respondents reporting that they intended to enjoy additional activities while in the district.
‘‘The most common activity was dining out, suggesting significant benefit to local hospitality businesses, alongside additional retail spending.
‘‘Some attendees also indicated they would be staying overnight and visiting other attractions, highlighting Glow’s role as a regional drawcard.’’
The visitor survey was held onsite during the event and captured 242 responses.
‘‘We’re also grateful to our sponsors, volunteers, and the community for their ongoing support of EA Networks Glow in the Park as we could not produce an event of this scale without them.
‘‘This included generous local businesses, church groups, students, and council volunteers.’’
