Family Science Day event boosts local economy

The annual Family Science Day event by the City of Parramatta and Powerhouse, which took place on Saturday 19 August, brought 8,000 people into Parramatta Square and supported a $1.1m boost in the local economy.

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The annual Family Science Day event by the City of Parramatta and Powerhouse, which took place on Saturday 19 August, brought 8,000 people into Parramatta Square and supported a $1.1m boost in the local economy, compared to the previous Saturday.  

The City of Parramatta partnered with Powerhouse to bring our community the Family Science Day event at PHIVE and Parramatta Square. This event was part of the Powerhouse’s Sydney Science Festival program.

Local Universities and research institutions took part in the day with free hands-on activities, workshops, and demonstrations for families.

Families rated the event highly, with 78% rating their experience as 4or 5/5 and 71% felt more positive about Parramatta after attending the event.

One of Council’s key objectives in holding major events in our city is to support Parramatta’s local economy and drive spend at our local businesses.

We found that most of our Family Science Day survey respondents spent between $21-$100 at local businesses on the day of the event.

We used the data from Spendmapp by Geographia, an economic/expenditure tracking tool, and it indicated that there was $7.2m in spending on Family Science Day on Saturday 19 August, compared to $6.1m in spending the previous Saturday. There was also a 29% increase in spending in dining & entertainment at our local businesses. 
 

Upcoming Opportunities

We encourage our local businesses to get on board with special offers and promotions to align with our major events & festivals program and offer free marketing support of our local businesses as part of our event promotions.

Please e-mail marketing@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au for more information about how you can get involved in the upcoming events & festivals program.