The diverse talents of those who call the Catlins home were on display at the major fundraiser for the Owaka Swimming Pool on Saturday night.
Catlins Got Talent had everything from soulful ballads, and thrilling dance performances, to men wearing only sunglasses, neckties and metal bowls over their privates hitting themselves below the belt with wooden spoons tied between their knees.
But it was an Aucklander who walked away with the night's top prize awarded by the judges.
Waru Clark sends his son to school in the Catlins and he played a few tunes for a very receptive sell-out crowd.
''Thank you for looking after my son here,'' he said between numbers.
''It's a bit of a secret how great this town is, if I could convince my wife to move, I'd be here too.''
The community event, in its fifth year, pays the power bill for the year for the Owaka Swimming Pool through ticket sales, bar sales and an auction.
Final figures were not available on the night.
In its first two years the annual show raised $60,000 and allowed the pool to convert from a solar power-only, three-months-of-the-year operation, to seven months of heated swimming in the Catlins town facility.
''It's a night that we really profile the importance of swimming in our community, a swimming pool is vital for all ages,'' Owaka Swimming Baths Committee member and organiser Kim Dodds said.
''That swimming pool is the hub of the community.''
