Riverside Plaza Telstra Shop franchisee Neil Kennedy said engaging with the Queanbeyan community was too good an opportunity to miss when signing as the naming rights sponsor for this year's Queanbeyan Gift.
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The Queanbeyan Gift race carnival, the largest Gift in NSW and winner of the NSW carnival of the year two years running, will be held on November 22 and 23 this year.
Kennedy will contribute $25,000 towards this year's event.
He said he felt the carnival was the biggest annually in Queanbeyan, and having sponsored smaller events in the past, wanted to come on board.
"Queanbeyan is a great city, and it was time for us to sponsor a big event," he said.
"The next four months will be huge for us. The Queanbeyan Gift brings everyone in the city together, and we wanted to have a strong part of that this year."
The Gift is expected to attract around 750 athletes and upwards of 4000 spectators, and for the first time this year, will see a portion of Crawford Street closed off for a street party, to be held on the Saturday night during the event.
"It's the biggest event of the year in Queanbeyan, and we want to ensure everyone in our community can become involved. Crawford Street is in the heart of Queanbeyan, so we thought we'd utilise it to hold street events," said Queanbeyan mayor Tim Overall.
Extra tiered seating will also be installed for this year's Gift, which will be held at Town Park.