Crowds gather for COVID-safe Gympie Show

With a new COVID-safe plan introduced to keep visitors safe, the second day of the Gympie Show had an incredible turnout and perfect weather.

People’s Day at the Gympie Show was blessed with perfect warm weather and not a cloud in the sky.

A big crowd descended on the Showgrounds for the second day of the 2021 show on Friday, complete with a COVID-safe plan to keep everyone safe.

There were hopes of a big turnout this year, given the cancellation of the iconic event in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.

Show Society committee secretary and deputy chief ring steward Deb Brown said the crowd numbers were very pleasing.

“Being People’s Day, and obviously because we didn’t have a Show in 2020, I was hoping we would have a big crowd,” she said.

“There seems to be more people here at lunchtime on Friday, than what I had previously experienced.”

Ms Brown said pre-ticket sales fell short of expectation, something she attributed to people fearing the Show being cancelled again.

“Our pre-sale was worse than 2019, and I think it’s because there was still the uncertainty,” she said.

“I think people were very cautious, and also having to do the COVID-safe plan it was like ‘is it going to happen?’.

Ms Brown said the COVID-Safe plan for the Gympie Show included hand-sanitiser stations at every ride and exhibit, barriers to keep visitors safe, tenders to count people coming in and out of buildings and signage everywhere promoting social distancing.

She said she was pleased with the number of visitors, including the number of school children who turned out on Thursday.

11-year-old Emily Heaton-New says her favourite thing about the show is checking out the new rides.

“Thursday is our aged care and school kids day,” she said.

She also said the police were bombarded with school children, and even local MP Tony Perrett ran out of balloons.

“It was great to see the majority of schools in the region all came,” she said.

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Ms Brown said there were a few new rides available at the Show this year, but one of the most popular was the SoundWave.

One young visitor, 11-year-old Emily Heaton-New, said her favourite part of the Show was the new rides, namely The Whizzer.

“It was just a crazy ride and I really enjoyed it,” she said.

The Gympie Show concludes Saturday night, May 15.