Running Glow in the Park will rely on potentially more sponsorship.

Glow will shift from the Tinwald Domain to the Ashburton Domain next year, with the free admission light festival running over three nights at King's Birthday weekend.

Council compliance and development group manager Jane Donaldson said the event will be reliant on sponsorship.

“As it has done in the prior two years, Glow in the Park’s third year is planned to rely primarily on corporate sponsorship.

“With the help of generous sponsors like EA Networks, the council decided to run Glow in the Park a second year, after the first year was deemed a success by the high attendance numbers and positive feedback.”

The original Glow was funded by EA Networks as a celebration of its centenary.

Donaldson said the decision to continue the event as part of the council’s annual events programme was made at an operational level, with councillors kept in the loop.

Glow requires funding well over the council’s allocated $15,000 to run. It received $47,000 of sponsorship from 28 local businesses in 2023.

Events advisor Sarah Davidson told the council that the cost of running the event in the Ashburton Domain could go from $60,000 to as high as $100,000.

“Overall costs will depend on the design and offering of the event, as well as the level of corporate sponsorship we are able to secure,” Donaldson said.

“Given that the event venue has only been decided recently, detailed logistics planning has not yet commenced.

“Balancing the event design and the overall costs will be carefully considered.”

A draft design for the event will help determine the event’s budget.

“There will be some leeway to scale up or down the event based on the level of sponsorship secured, so final event design will take place at a later date.

“There is obviously a base level of funding required to make the event viable but that's not a concern for us at this stage.”

The council’s overall event budget for 2022/23 was $85,000, with around $30,000 of that for the annual Light up the Night Christmas festival at the end of November.

The annual events programme is reviewed on an ongoing basis, she said.

The future of the community events will not be a specific topic in the upcoming long-term plan process, Donaldson said.

“The community is welcome to have their say on any issue as part of the consultation.”

By Jonathan Leask