Ticket changes, futuristic farming: What’s new at Gympie Show 2025

Volunteers are soldiering through a wet week of preparations with the final countdown to the 2025 Gympie District Show underway, including one important change to tickets.

Volunteers are soldiering through a wet week of preparations with the final countdown to the 2025 Gympie District Show underway, including one important change to tickets.

Volunteers are soldiering through a wet week of preparations with the final countdown to the 2025 Gympie District Show underway, and some big changes for this year’s expected 25,000 guests.

In past years the option to pre-purchase ride tickets online was offered as a cheaper alternative than buying them on-site, but this was no longer on the cards for the 2025 Show.

Show President Deb Brown said the change was due to the “extra headache” the process created.

“It saved people $5, but ended up actually costing us more than that,” Ms Brown said.

She said the promotion is “not something offered everywhere” at other shows and to streamline the process they decided to do away with the offer.

This year’s ‘farming in the future’ theme is revamping its agricultural education centre with new technology, agricultural scientists and hands-on workshops. Picture: Akinshin Vladimir.

“It was just a little bit more of a headache than was worth it,” she said.

Ms Brown said this would stop online ticket wastage if purchasers did not end up using them, as happened in previous years.

She said each ride is operated by someone from the Showmen’s Guild and prices vary.

There was not expected to a shortage of guests eager to hop on board, though.

With 23,000 showgoers last year, Ms Brown said she is “hoping to crack the 25,000 mark” this weekend.

Ms Brown was “aware of cost-of-living problems,” but said ticket prices for the show were generous.

“I mean, when you look at what your entry gets, with all our events over three days, with a family pass, it works out to something like $2 an hour.”

She said the 2025 show has embraced its “farming in the future” theme featuring a revamped agricultural education display and workshop.

President Deb Brown is hoping to top last year’s 23,000 attendees by another few thousand, but acknowledged the cost-of-living situation affecting Australians.

While agricultural education has been a feature of previous Gympie Shows Ms Brown said this year’s event is engaging more with developing farming technologies.

“As technology evolves, landowners are looking for smarter and more eco-friendly farming practices,” Ms Brown said.

One example is a display about putting “seaweed into feed for cattle to reduce methane emissions”.

Punters will also score an opportunity to “meet professional scientists shaping farming’s future”.

A stereomicroscope and other prizes are up for grabs, with schools encouraged to attend.

The 2025 Gympie District Show runs Thursday through Saturday at the Gympie Showgrounds.

The schedule is a busy one, featuring a variety of events from woodchopping to arts and crafts.

“Preparation has been really good. All our volunteers have just hooked in and got the job done,” Ms Brown said.