Royal Adelaide Show offers virtual Show At Home online after it was cancelled because of COVID-19
The Royal Adelaide Show might cancelled this year because of COVID-19, but that hasn’t completely stopped intrepid organisers. Plus, here’s how to get super-cheap 2021 tickets.
Lifestyle
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The spirit of the Royal Adelaide Show lives on in 2020, even if we can’t come together at Wayville for one of South Australia’s most beloved events.
Only four events have ever seen the Show cancelled in its 181-year history – the two world wars, the Spanish flu pandemic and the Victorian gold rush – so it was with a heavy heart that organisers announced in April that this year’s event wouldn’t go ahead.
However there will be a show of sorts, even if it lacks the dagwood dogs, fairy floss, sideshows and cow poo of the real thing.
The Show at Home, a virtual experience that launches Monday, will allow show-lovers to get at least a little taste of their favourite event.
“When we announced the cancellation of the Show there was an overwhelming response of disappointment albeit an understanding of why we had to cancel,” Royal Adelaide Show general manager Michelle Hocking said.
“The Show at Home is about maintaining ongoing engagement with our regular Showgoers and providing the public with an opportunity to still be part of the Show in a fun and interactive way.”
The website will allow South Aussies to buy showbags, go on a Yellow Brick Road Trip, learn how to judge, take a virtual ride around the grounds, watch entertainment and enter competitions.
And, in a nod of confidence to the Show going ahead next year, organisers are offering $15 tickets – up to 45 per cent off the usual price – for the 2021 event.
The discount tickets will be available from September 7 to 11 through the Show at Home website.
For the ladies of the South Australian Country Women’s Association, the Royal Adelaide Show is more than just a chance to catch up with old friends from across the state – it’s also its major fundraiser.
$50,000 blow to SACWA
The SACWA’s Country Kitchen is a treasured part of the Show, serving up tens of thousands of cuppas, cold cuts and traditional rural fare.
“This year’s cancellation is a financial loss, no doubt,” SACWA president Roslyn Schumann said.
“We think it will probably cost us somewhere around $50,000.”
Ms Schumann said most of that money would have been raised through the cafe, with some also coming from the association’s marquee that sells handcrafted goods, jams and preserves.
“That money actually goes to our association so that we can help people to do things,” she said. “Also, while we’re almost all volunteers, we do have two part-time staff that need to be paid.
“And we still have to pay rates, the water bill, all that type of thing, and members have to fundraise to pay hall rent or maintain their building.”
Ms Schumann said while the Show’s cancellation was a blow on many levels, the SACWA would be back doing what it does best next year.
“We certainly hope the Show will be back in 2021,” she said.
“Our members have been very resilient through this, and we’re very proud of them.”
Meanwhile, she said, there are plans afoot for a special trading table day to coincide with what would have been the second Saturday of the Show, COVID restrictions allowing.
And while the cancellation is a blow for the SACWA and other volunteer organisations, spare a thought for those whose very livelihood depends on it – the ride and sideshow operators.
Trent Woodall comes from generations of showmen, and currently runs the ferris wheel and a number of other rides and sideshows.
Mr Woodall, who’s based in Geelong, said the cancellation of shows and fairs across the country had been devastating for his industry.
“Adelaide Show is the best show for me, for lots of reasons,” he said.
“Financially, emotionally – any way you want to measure it. My nan and pop used to run the chairlifts there, and I’ve been coming since I was a boy, so I love it for that reason,
“But also the people that run the Adelaide Show are so good to work with, and the people of Adelaide really like their show so it’s always nice to work when people are enjoying themselves.”
Mr Woodall said the turnover for his and his family’s rides during the Adelaide Show would be in the vicinity of a million dollars, and much of that money went back into employing casual workers and supporting local businesses.
“We have a full-time crew of six, but we employ 35 Adelaide locals during the Show,” he said.
“By the time we set up, do the Show, then pack up we’re there for almost a month. We’ve worked out that, not including rents, we probably spend about $200,000 during that time. That’s just our one company. It must be millions of dollars that Adelaide’s missing out on across all the companies.”
Mr Woodall said show people were a very tight-knit community of “social creatures who work hard”, and everyone was feeling this year’s troubles.
“I think what it’s demonstrated is the importance of work on the human psyche,” he said.
“I’ve had strong men who never show their emotions crying on the phone. There’s such a feeling of helplessness.”
Ribbons are good, but mates are better
FOR Murray Bridge cattle breeder Ian Mueller, the Royal Adelaide Show is in his blood. Literally.
Mr Mueller’s parents, both from cattle breeding families, met at the show and now Mr Mueller’s granddaughters Renae and Caitlin are the fifth generation preparing the Illawarra cattle for showing at Wayville.
For Mr Mueller the ribbons are nice – and he’s won pretty much everything there is to win in his categories over the years – but the camaraderie is more important.
Because cattle need almost constant care and attention the owners and handlers often stay with them overnight, turning the sheds into a makeshift hotel.
Twenty or 30 years ago, Mr Mueller says, that meant nightly trips to the Goodwood Park Hotel to fill a wheelbarrow with booze from the bottle shop that would then be smuggled back into the showgrounds for party purposes.
“That doesn’t really happen these days because the security is much tighter than it used to be,” Mr Mueller laughs.
“Before the judging I’ll shake my mates’ hands and tell them ‘all the best, and may the best cow win’. However I’m hoping that best cow is mine. So during judging it’s everyone for themselves, but before and after the judging we’re one big happy family.”
A seven-year-old Mr Mueller even found himself on the front page of the Sunday Mail in 1963, standing on a kerosene tin so he could brush his cow’s hair for the photograph.
“I probably went to my first show in a pram, but my first memories of staying at the Show from when I was four or five years old,” he said.
And while the whole Mueller family is sad that this year’s Show won’t go ahead, Mr Mueller thinks organisers have done the right thing.
“We have to respect that this is a worldwide epidemic – you can’t fight it, you have to work with it,” he said.
“The Show is working with it, and they have our best interests at heart. We have to respect that and move on. The good thing is I’m getting a lot more work done on the farm, and I’m already preparing for next year’s Show.”
For Mr Royal Show, it’s a difficult year
The first Royal Adelaide Show Leith Jenkins can remember attending was as an eight-year-old boy in 1948. He hasn’t missed one since.
Mr Jenkins is considered something of a legend in Show circles, and admits that 2020’s cancellation – the first since World War II ¬– has left him feeling “very lost”.
The keen pigeon breeder was the guiding force behind one of the Show’s most popular attractions – the animal nursery – and was also instrumental in setting up the street parade that saw all kinds of animals strolling down King William St.
“The street parade started in 1994 and ran until 2004, when I think they got tired of cleaning up the mess,” Mr Jenkins laughed. “But it was a great thing for the public to come and see.
“And the animal nursery, well that’s the closest thing these days to what a farmyard used to be, an original farmyard where people had chooks as a sideline and pigs as a sideline.
“You don’t really see that anymore on a farm today. Even the sheepdogs would be nervous these days, there’s no work for them!”
And both the nursery and the animal parade, while fun, also served an important purpose – bringing the country to the city.
“I’ve always thought it was important for city kids to experience those things,” Mr Jenkins said.
“The nursery has created a lot of happiness, from little babies in pushers to aged adults.
“I started in a small shed and then went to where it is now and it’s grown to be one of the most popular attractions at the show. I think other states are probably jealous of what we have.”
The 80-year-old former farmer and agricultural products salesman said not walking out on to the arena at 7am on the opening day would be a strange feeling.
“The Show really is a cornerstone of the state,” Mr Jenkins said.
“It’s such a big event for country people and city people. But I’ll be back next year, that’s for sure.”