I wonder what the end game is here... or the aim for the future. So as we all know Inno have purposefully drastically reduced the worth of any prizes they give out, but does that actually benefit either them or the game or the players? If 'game balance' is affected by people being able to gain huge amounts of goods from old school building sets, does that lead to players leaving? Player satisfaction reducing? Diamond sales reducing?
Right now events are just depressing for many people. Possibly the majority of people. Like sheep we continue to play as directed, but not only is every event exactly the same, but they all last nearly a whole month, run nearly continuously and don't reward people for playing them.
On the one hand it seems that the developers just can't be bothered with trying anything new. Being innovative. If that's the case then why keep pushing the events out at all? Now that they run continuously, the notion of picking up items from the same spots around the city outskirts has become tantamount to Dante's 7th Circle of Hell in how ridiculously annoying and boring it is.
If you wish to give out rather pointless prizes, there are several different things you could try:
1) A 'prize' like the new bear could be given away at the end of a 5 day crafting challenge, automatically at the equivalent of level 10. People would not mind it then. They could build it or not, but wouldn't have had to go through the same rigmarole. Failing that, it should be no more than a simple 6 or 7 day short questline.
2) Really up the ante when it comes to the graphical design of prize buildings. I know I don't speak for everyone on this point, but I used to be excited just to win a prize because I liked how it looked. Now I have to think back to Frankenspleen since there was a building I really loved the look of and had to have it in my city for that reason. As an FYI, I look longingly at two premium culture buildings from chapter 15 and 16. They are Dolphin Fountain and Fountain of Peace. If those two were event prizes, I would bust a gut to get hold of them... no matter what their stats were. (FYI, they are not worth 6,000 diamonds to buy though).
3) Bite the bullet and offer prizes that are worth winning again. Something that gives out tons of culture/pop, a la Venar's Rocks III, or tons of goods, a la Jester's Tavern... and to heck with game balance. People will get very into the event and people will start throwing money at it too.
4) (And this is the most realistic)... Just come up with a new idea. No more evolving buildings. No more collecting keys from outside the city. No more opening three chests. Come up with a new event mechanic, or alternatively just roll it back to the 2017 seasonal event mechanics.