After sorting through a massive 12 kilos of dockets, Glen Innes' Christmas shop local campaign announced the final 11 big spenders of 2018.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But a rebrand to encourage participation from the towns of Emmaville and Deepwater completely failed. 'Spend in Glen', now called 'Spend in Glen Innes Highlands' attracted 57 businesses from the main town and none from anywhere else.
"We didn't get any businesses from Deepwater and Emmaville. Perhaps they didn't know we were trying to be inclusive!" laughed committee member Mora Munro.
Normally they get one or two businesses from the smaller towns, and for all the extra effort, they might have assumed they would build on those numbers. Instead they got zero, despite overall bigger participation.
"It's a long-term project I guess and we're hoping for better participation next year.
"We would have welcomed them!
"Everyone still called it Spend in Glen and perhaps that's why - maybe they thought we were just paying lip service. We're not though!"
Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall drew the final ten winners of the four-week competition on Saturday December 22, plus an eleventh because two dockets were stuck together.
Winners were Christine Lyons (Say and Co Rural), John Adams (Woolworths), Tony Legge (The Premier Store), Buster Crowhurst (The Super Strawberry), Katrina Floyd (Bruce Family Butchery), Rhonda Pringle (Wayne’s World), Pam Campbell (NRMA), Mrs L Jones (Wayne’s World), Marissa Martin (Say and Co Rural) and Peter McGovern (Schafer’s Newagency).
Lachlan Ward's docket from Carelles was stuck to another one.
Winners of Spot the Window were Sienna McConnell, Ella Teinaki and Ashton McConnell.
Moira Munro says she is looking for "constructive criticism" of the committee's efforts this year.
"I haven't got any yet," she said.
She said the committee had to do very little work encouraging businesses to join the competition as it's now part of the furniture.
"People are asking us can we start it earlier - no we can't because it's not ready!"