There was a time when a country woman’s proudest boast was that her scones won the blue ribbon at the local show. For nearly 200 years, agricultural shows were the highlight of the rural calendar. In an extensively urbanised Australia, they also brought the country to the city for a few days every year. Even as rides, sideshows and showbags took centre-stage, the cattle judging, animal pavilions and produce and cooking displays remained.
In most small Tasmanian country towns, including Deloraine in the north, agricultural shows are the heart of the community and what many residents spend months preparing for.
They are more than just showbags, dagwood dogs and the sideshow alley. In fact, many of the state’s small country shows don’t even have big adrenaline-pumping rides.
They are filled instead with animal nurseries, cow judging, horse jumping and the fiercely contested home industries competition.
When I moved to Tasmania, taking my kids to the local shows was like stepping back 50 years to my own childhood. Sure, there were the usual modern entertainments, but the locals displaying their horsemanship, the dog trials and the wood-chopping stayed centre-stage, gave the shows a distinctive, old-fashioned flavour.
(Although I’m not sure if I can call myself a real Tasmanian yet: after 15 years here, I’ve still not managed to go to AgFest!)
But all that is in grave danger of disappearing; killed off by a changing culture – and especially by the nanny-state response to the Chinese virus.
Joan Pedley, 90, of Elizabeth Town […] who was the Deloraine Show’s best shortbread maker for years, said last year felt different without the show to look forward to.
“I was very, very sad that last year’s show wasn’t on,” she said.
COVID-19 concerns and uncertainty cancelled almost every show on the Tasmanian circuit last year, and the committee behind the Ulverstone Show in the north-west has already cancelled its 2021 plans.It is the first Tasmanian show committee to pull the pin so far this year.
Deloraine is also home to the annual Tasmanian Craft Fair, an event that takes over nearly the whole town, with buses shuttling attendees between the various sites. It would be a sad loss if the Fair, scheduled for October this year, fails to go ahead.
But while uncertainty reigns and border restrictions remain, many committees and exhibitors are optimistic that shows will once again go on.
Jill Stephens, who is also from the Deloraine women’s group, said she was preparing crochet rugs to exhibit this year should her town’s show go ahead[…]
Mitch Spong, from the Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania, said planning was well underway for Hobart to celebrate its 200th agricultural show in October.
The Royal Hobart Show is the oldest agricultural show in the state, but Mr Spong said there had been two main challenges to getting the show running this year.
“One is the crowd numbers. At the moment, it’s a maximum of 5,000 people attending an outside event, unless you get approval otherwise. But really, we need 10,000 to 15,000 as a minimum to make it viable to put on each day,” Mr Spong said.
He said the other issue for committees was preparing COVID-19 plans.
Uncertainty is also plaguing event planners. Why put in months of hard work, only to have it all shut down at a moment’s notice by a panicked government and an out-of-control public health bureaucracy?
But for now, those planning to exhibit remain hopeful about the return of agricultural shows.
Lexie Young, who is a life member of the Deloraine Show Society, said there should be more exhibitors this year[…]
And if Mrs Pedley doesn’t enter, she will hand the baton onto her great-grandchildren.
“They put their Lego in and do some floral work and this year I think one might put some cooking in,” Mrs Pedley said.
ABC Australia
And I’ll definitely be hanging out for our little local show and its attendant rodeo.
Please share this article so that others can discover The BFD