Yet another resident of the town - population 250 or so - has made his way on to the small screen.
Bryan Woodhouse, better known around the Central Otago town as Ginger or Ginge, is the main man of the new Mainland Cheese advertisement which aired on television for the first time at the weekend.
Mr Woodhouse (``I think I turn 78 in November'') follows Omakau Auto Centre co-owner Tony Herbert, who stars in a Vodafone advertisement first aired last year, along with a piglet and a few other humans, including Ida Valley farmer Michael Fridd.
Mr Woodhouse had a small role as an extra playing a retired English gentleman in the feature film The Light Between Oceans, when the film's producers used St Bathans as a location in late 2014.
He had missed out at the last minute on another advertisement, when his agent approached him about auditioning for the latest Mainland role.
He got the nod and spent several days earlier this winter filming the advertisement around Clyde and Queenstown.
The advertisement shows Mr Woodhouse's character Bob trying various ways to impress Millie (played by former Shortland Street actor Judy Rankin), and it ends with a cute twist as the final shot reveals he is simply keeping the spark alive after 53 years of marriage.
Mr Woodhouse was ``treated like a king'' during filming, and was given a standing ovation as he left the wrap-up dinner.
As he returned from the bathroom during the dinner, he had to take a moment just to soak it all in.
``I saw a big mirror, so I looked at it and burst out laughing, saying `what ... are you doing here, you old b...','' Mr Woodhouse said, with a chuckle.
Mr Woodhouse has not been shy of success in the harness racing industry in his six decades of involvement. He bred and raced Supreme Pat who won two big 3yr-old trotting feature races in 2001, but reckons his 30 seconds of fame on screen was ``pretty much up there'' with those wins.
Mr Woodhouse follows the fine tradition of Central Otago men in Mainland's advertisements. The late Kevin Corcoran, of Cromwell, was one half of a duo in the ``Good Things Take Time'' series of advertisements for Mainland for more than 10 years.
