“It was a resounding success. We sold every seat, all 1006 of them. And I could have sold more,” Brian Bruton, president of the Rotary Club of Great Lakes said.

The local Rotary club joined up with Creative Network to hold the event, the profits of which will go towards local charities and Rotary projects. 

“The final wash-up hasn’t been worked out yet, but the bills are coming in. Hopefully we’ll have around $20,000 at the final tally,” he said, adding that the staging had to be sourced from the Central Coast. 

The success of ticket sales did not come as a surprise to Mr Bruton, who attributed it to the region’s right demographics and the event’s wide marketing. 

“People came from Sydney, Port Macquarie, even Bundaberg!  I did alot of direct mail to community groups everywhere,” he said.

With a 10 member committee all allocated respective roles to organise the show, Mr Bruton said they now have the perfect model for next year.

“We’ll make it an annual event but using other ideas,” he said, refusing to be drawn on details any further.

He thanked the community for its support, in particular the SES, RFS, the Pearl Dragons for their catering, and the Tafe students who fulfilled the role of baristas, ushers, and barmen.

“They even conducted a market survey for their course,” he said.

A community effort indeed.