Crowd figures surge for Tea Tree Gully Council’s major events

LOVE a party? So do the residents of this northeastern council, who are turning out in huge – and increasing – numbers for public events.

THOUSANDS more revellers are flocking to major community events in Tea Tree Gully as the council ramps up its spending to bring people together and showcase the district.

The council expects about 10,000 people to attend next Tuesday’s Anzac Day commemoration at Tea Tree Gully Memorial Gardens.

It follows bumper crowds of 35,000 at the council’s biggest-budget event, the $175,000 Civic Park Carols in December, and its Australia Day celebrations, also in Civic Park, which attracted 10,000 – double the turnout for 2016.

All up, the council expects attendances at its major events to reach 65,000 this financial year – up from its expected official figure of 49,000.

But it has come at a cost.

The council’s draft budget for major events will be $262,000 next financial year, up $16,000 on this year’s.

The surge is mostly due to an increase in security and infrastructure needs.

Council director Ryan McMahon said the success of community events had underpinned a near-doubling of sponsorship money over the past three years, from $43,000 to more than $80,000.

“(It) has enabled us to meet community expectations while minimising direct financial impact,” he said.

“We’re very happy with the increase in attendances.

“There is a spin-off for the local economy, plus it improves our image and reputation and residents’ well- being. We’ve spoken to a few local businesses and it’s all been positive.

“There has been an increase in businesses wanting to sponsor our events, from property developers to fruit and vegetable operators. They want to attach their brand to our brand.”

The council is already planning ways to improve future events. It is considering wrist bands with parent contact details for children at large events. The queue for the popular Australia Day slip’n’slide was also too long, Mr McMahon said.

The council spent just $154,000 on major events in 2012/13, but crowd figures had more than doubled since.

“We only had 30,000 people attending our total events for the year (2012/13), in contrast to a forecast 65,000 people that will attend our events next financial year,” a council spokeswoman said.