A planter box painting day was held at Friendly Bay on Saturday where families showed off their creativity together.
In collaboration with the Waitaki District Council, Mitre 10 Oamaru ran an in-store competition where children submitted a design for a planter box to be placed along Thames St.
The winners were given a box on which to paint their design.
They were built by the Waitaki Menz Shed with timber donated by Mitre 10.
Twenty boxes in total were built and painted. However, only 16 of those were designed by the competition winners.
The final four were painted by either local artists or organisations.
One was even painted by the art department for the Netflix production of East Of Eden that filmed in town earlier this month.
For those who did not win, there was a tent set up where they could paint their own plant pots so they did not miss out on the fun, council placemaking lead Cyndi Christensen said.
Almost 200 people came through on the day.
"The families were just really excited, the kids were really excited.
"Art really did bring people together. It was more than we could’ve expected."
The planter boxes were part of a wider plan to make Thames St "more people-friendly", she said.
"It’s still a work in progress but we do want to activate the south end of Thames St with a little bit of beautification.
"Some greenery, obviously some plants in the planters, and we are looking at adding some innovative seating."
The boxes and seating would be in place late next month on a trial basis.
