Announces 52 Donkeys already claimed by delegations
The Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee for the Democratic National Convention today held a press conference to provide final details, information and statistics on the very successful “Donkeys Around Town” program. Following the convention, the donkeys were available for delegations to take home with them; so far, 52 donkeys have been claimed.
Donkeys that are not claimed by a delegation will be auctioned online, to any interested individuals or entities. The auction will begin once all delegations that want to claim their donkeys have done so. Proceeds from the auction will be shared between the 28 artists that painted the donkeys.
“The donkeys were a great success and produced excitement for both delegates and local residents,” said former Pennsylvania governor and Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee Chair Ed Rendell. “The large number of donkeys that have already been claimed bears out the affection that the state delegations had for them.”
From July 20 to July 28th, the Host Committee held an app-based scavenger hunt on Scavify to encourage individuals to find as many of the donkeys as possible for prizes. To play, users were required to complete a task on the app to verify that they had found the corresponding donkey.
The eight-day scavenger hunt had a total of 2,213 participants who completed 26,587 tasks. Fifty-seven users, or 3 percent of all participants, completed tasks at all donkey locations. The donkeys with the most tasks completed were: Pennsylvania (33 percent); California (31 percent); Connecticut (30 percent); Georgia (30 percent); Colorado (30 percent); and Kansas (29 percent).
“The scavenger hunt produced interest well beyond our wildest expectations,” Gov. Rendell said.
The scavenger hunt yielded prizes for over 1,360 participants. A total of 432 participants completed tasks at more than 31 donkeys, and were eligible for entry into the grand prize drawing, which was awarded by raffle.
The grand prize drawing took place on Friday, July 29th, and the winners were:
Maria Hutchinson of Voorhees, New Jersey, winner of the Philly Overnight Package, which consists of a two-night stay with the Hyatt at the Bellevue, and gift certificates for dining at XIX Restaurant, two Steven Starr restaurants and Jim’s Steaks.
Elena Cupingood of Center City, Philadelphia, won the Ultimate Sports Package: tickets to the 2016-17 seasons of Philadelphia professional and college sports teams, including:
• 2 tickets, Lasalle Men’s Basketball
• 4 tickets, Penn Men’s Basketball
• 4 tickets, Temple Football Game on Sept. 10
• 2 VIP tickets, Drexel vs. SJU Men’s Basketball
• 2 tickets, Villanova Men’s Basketball, any game at Wells Fargo Center
• 2 tickets, Villanova Women’s Basketball, any home game
• 2 tickets, Villanova Football game, any home game
• 2 tickets, St. Joe’s University Women’s Basketball Game on Dec. 3
• 2 tickets, St. Joe’s University Men’s Basketball Game on Nov. 12
• 2 club box tickets, Sixers
• 2 tickets, Flyers
• 2 tickets, Phillies 2017 home opener, plus 2 tickets to 3 additional games in the 2017 season
• 2 tickets, Eagles vs. Redskins on Dec. 11
The Donkeys Around Town program generated significant enthusiasm on social media, producing approximately 2.5 million impressions on Instagram and a potential reach of approximately 36.8 million people on Twitter.
The Host Committee today also announced that, due to the high level of maintenance they require, the donkeys will be taken in from their locations and placed in storage on August 23rd. The donkeys were installed on July 1st and, over the course of the month, were maintained by “donkey doctors,” who were volunteers responsible for making sure the donkeys were clean, upright and in their proper locations. Now that the Convention has ended, there are fewer donkey doctors to care for their patients, and so the donkeys will be stored at ClientLink, a distribution warehouse in Montgomeryville, as they are crated and shipped to their home state or auctioned here in Philadelphia.
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