20,000 pour through gates for sunny Show

The sun shone on the 118th Albany Agricultural Show on Friday and Saturday, boosting attendance and prompting organisers to declare the event a huge success.

About 20,000 people poured through the showground gates this year, up from the 16,000 last year when wet weather was blamed for keeping many away.

Albany Agricultural Society show secretary Paul Higginson said the lifting of the age to 16 for free entry for children may have also contributed to the higher number of show-goers.

“We regard this show as an extremely successful one, measured not only by entry numbers but participation in the competitions and the memberships we were able to include,” he said.

“We have an obligation to maintain the relevance of agricultural shows, and we’ve proved that this year by including a lot of agricultural-based activities, such as the junior discovery trail.”

Society president Erika Henderson said the show was an opportunity for children to be exposed to agriculture.

“A lot of the city kids just don’t understand much about agriculture, and they are just so ready to suck up any knowledge about animals, which I think is beneficial,” she said.

Alpaca section councillor Paul Murray said entries in both the fleece and animal sections had increased by 20 per cent.

Horses in action councillor Debbie Panizza said the fine weather meant the effort which went into ensuring the horses were well presented was worthwhile, and the standard of competition was highly commended by the judges.

Other drawcards of the show were sideshow alley, the bush poets breakfast, lots of local entertainment and the fireworks display on Friday night.