Crowds have returned to the Rockhampton Heritage Village in record numbers with the venue's school holiday activities attracting 1838 people over the three days they were held.
Parents, grandparents and children took the opportunity, for the first time in more than a year, to feed the animals, ride in vintage vehicles and Rory The Roadtrain and just have a look around the village.
When the gates opened on Tuesday for school holiday activities, the queue extended well into the car park with staff and volunteers working hard to get everyone into the village as quickly as possible. Similar scenes happened on Wednesday and Thursday.
Rockhampton Regional Council Communities portfolio spokesperson Cr Drew Wickerson said that the attendance figures were the highest for any single week of school holiday activities since they were first held in 2004.
"We have had a great turnout for our first week back since the closure with more than 2000 people attending over the whole week," Cr Wickerson said.
"There was a steady stream of people coming through the gates on Monday (5 July) when the village reopened after being temporarily closed, but the real crowds arrived when school holiday activities happened on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (6-8 July).
"It was all hands on deck – staff and volunteers, with some additional volunteers called in to help. I would like to give a big thank you to all those involved who helped make our opening week such a success," he said.
"Staff and volunteers, and Rockhampton Regional Council as a whole, are really pleased that the public has supported the Heritage Village and its activities in such an emphatic way," Cr Wickerson said.
The Heritage Village will hold its next school holiday activities in the September school holidays. More events are in the pipeline.
Rockhampton Heritage Village is owned and operated by Rockhampton Regional Council and supported by an enthusiastic group of volunteers.
