Waterparks across the country have been searching for ways to add revenue and attendance. Most parks enjoy healthy attendance during peak hours. But with the Tom Sawyer approach, you can fill your park during off-peak hours, help community organizations, foster goodwill in your service area and introduce new populations to your facility and programs.

Community organizations from the Boy Scouts to First Aid Squads are constantly searching for fund-raising events that can help fill their treasuries, and serve as social events as well. This approach goes further than the traditional group sales event or buyout. Your group sales or marketing staff rarely needs to even be involved.

First you need to identify when your park shows a dip in attendance. Most likely, it’s Tuesday through Thursday and most weekdays after 4 p.m. For many parks, July doesn’t need any special promotions. However, June and August are prime times for special promotional events. The concepts can be as simple as a discount for wearing a part of your Girl Scout uniform to a full-blown buyout by a local charitable organization.

All the promotion is the responsibility of the sponsoring organization. From fliers to phone chains, these organizations will promote the event within their memberships much more efficiently than you can. In many instances, such as with youth or civic groups, this communication network is strong and efficient. The organization often will also provide the entertainment in the waterpark for the event. In exchange for all the promotion, the organization will receive a special discounted admission price for each member, plus friends and family. They also will receive $1 to $2 per head for their own treasury.

In turn, both your park and the organization receive the exposure in the community. In most cases, your park is still available to the general public — and then those people get exposed to the offerings of these community groups.

Just think of the possibilities. In the case of Scouting, the Scouts simply wear part of their uniforms to gain entry. The organization itself is responsible for ticket sales and its representatives are positioned at the front gate. Since Scouting has many swimming, boating and safety-related badges, the Scout troops may want to use the event to exhibit these skills, earn badges and recruit. Many times, they also can distribute educational materials about their organization to those in the park, who may develop an interest in joining.

Mom, Dad and firefighters
Another Tom Sawyer approach helps you address all of those requests from dance troupes and karate centers to perform at your park. Instead of settling for just a rental from these types of community-based businesses, turn them into marketing opportunities for all of you.

Scheduling performances of these types of groups as entertainment in your park serves several purposes. Along with the “Karate Kids” come their parents and siblings, all of whom need to buy a ticket to attend. Performance events also expose family members to a facility that they might not ever see under normal circumstances; chances are, they will return. Once again, let the karate school do all the promotion and sales. In exchange, the participants get in free while the group’s spectators get a slight discount, or you contribute $1 or $2 per person for the group’s treasury or charity.

Take a serious look at your past attendance patterns and let your imagination go wild. For example, have the city or county declare “Firefighters Appreciation Night.” Firefighters get free admission, and a discount for all those who come with them for the event. Let them plan all of the special events and watch the fun begin.

By using return coupons and other special promotions that can be tracked, I guarantee that these efforts will result in return visits or season-pass sales from segments of the community that may never have entered your park before.

Corporate sponsorships and special events are nothing new in the waterpark business. But partnering these two concepts is a winner when the Tom Sawyer approach is utilized.

As corporations tighten their marketing budgets, the possibility of product placement and promotion is more likely than ever. Creating events that bring out the right demographics for your sponsors have been very successful around the country. Father’s Day, Grandparents’ Day and other special family events can be sponsored and promoted entirely by your park’s corporate sponsors.

Family-oriented events, such as “Family Day,” feature products and services in the community that cater to families. Allow companies to exhibit their products, distribute product samples, and provide the goods and services for this community festival held in your park. Each family leaves with a photo of themselves in your lazy river, compliments of the local photo store. Chair massages from the local chiropractor and blood pressure screenings from the First Aid Squad, all in the name of Family Day.

Although a waterpark is an unusual location for such an event, in many communities, they are the meeting places for families in the summer. So why not capitalize on such a great environment?

Success across the nation
One of the biggest challenges for any community-based park is making the park affordable for families. Again, the Tom Sawyer approach works just fine.

Banks, realtors and civic organizations purchase tickets that are imprinted with their logos and then are distributed throughout the community by school nurses, social workers and service organizations such as the Boys & Girls Clubs. The companies are recognized on a corporate sponsorship board at the entrance to the park, and receive recognition by the City Council with a plaque for their headquarters. This enables children to enjoy the park with a sense of dignity and pride. The corporations have the satisfaction of helping those in need, while receiving the appropriate recognition.

In Lafayette, Ind., teens who volunteer hours in the parks get rewarded with Rec Dollars that can be used for admission to Tropicanoe Cove Family Aquatic Center

Here’s another idea: Why not have big barrels near your concession stand and encourage patrons to fill them with their loose change? Get a local bank or business to match the annual yield in the barrel. It’s a great grass-roots effort to help kids in the community.

Children in the Phoenix area have benefited from free summer aquatic activities for more than 10 years, thanks to a partnership between the city and corporate sponsors such as CIGNA HealthCare of Arizona.

The two entities created CIGNA Summer, a comprehensive water-safety program that is equal parts recreation and education. Since the CIGNA Summer program began, attendance has increased by 400,000 visits. The city also raised funds for an open swimming program called “Cool Kids” by collecting sponsorships of $5,000 to $10,000 from corporations. In return, each corporation has its logo painted on the bottom of one of the city’s 28 pools. This program has paid for more 160,000 free visits to city pools.

Charleston County (S.C.) Park and Recreation Commission has found the most novel combination of public and private partnerships — with a dash of stick-to-itiveness community spirit. With the help of Greenbax Corp. and participating Piggly Wiggly supermarkets, any child in Charleston County can swim in one of their three waterparks. On each visit to a Piggly Wiggly, you receive Greenbax stamps in the amount of the purchase. Save up enough stamps and paste them in a book and you can go for a swim!

Community organizations collect Greenbax from folks who don’t save them and fill up the books for kids in the community. This is a winner for all the parties involved. The Charleston County waterparks are beautifully illustrated in the Greenbax catalog, Piggly Wiggly gets increased traffic at the checkouts and pays for each redeemed Greenbax booklet, and kids who need it most get to swim.

Tom Sawyer would love to live in Charleston County!