Hi Cameron,
Great to hear you are involved in outreach.
One thing that is always for sure is that the queue for the largest most impressive looking scope is always the longest by far
This is even before they have looked through them.
When we have had outreach events such as the big ones at Parramatta Park
with crowds of more than a thousand, despite being under light polluted
skies and the limitations that imposes, if there is a big Dob there like an
18" the queues for that will be many. many times longer than for say, a 14".
It's like going to an amusement park. They don't queue for the tame
looking merry-go-round but for the biggest, scariest looking monster
roller-coaster.
Now at first blush the above may not appear to help much with your
planning with respect the "wow" factor of what people see. But it
can possibly act as anecdotal advice that might guide your planning
on a given night.
What we find when we set up multiple scopes is to plan between us what
will be showing what. A smaller aperture scope that is accessible even
to young children is obviously ideal for the Moon.
We'll then typically have something larger on Saturn, or failing that
Jupiter.
A big scope will typically be on Omega Centauri or something similarly
mindblowing.
You have two potential advantages. One is that your skies are potentially
going to be much, much, much better than the types of places
used for outreach events here in Sydney and I gather your audience - a
village and the surrounding district, is possibly smaller than the largest
crowds we have helped host here.
What I find is that parents are even happy to hold a toddler up
to an eyepiece on a scope that does not require a ladder.
Children, when they look through the eyepiece, tend to "get it"
even quicker than some of their parents. You know if the object has
drifted out of the FOV if you don't hear a "wow!"
Parents with children tend to knock off early. You need to set up before
sunset. Some of them are off to bed by 7:30pm or 8pm.
The really, really keen people ask a lot of questions and stick around.
If you suggest to them if they would like to stick around longer, you can
show them deep sky objects such as galaxies.
This later demographic often includes more people in their mid to late
twenties. But don't be surprised if a couple in their seventies hover
around in awe until late as well.
Good luck!
Best regards
Gary Kopff
Wildcard Innovations
Mount Kuring-Gai NSW 2080