Gympie Show 2024: Thousands gather to celebrate People’s Day

Higher prices and the loss of a few fan favourites including a hugely popular hot chip stall have not stopped thousands from crowding the city’s showground to enjoy People’s Day.

Cost of living concerns were not enough to squash Gympie’s Show spirit, with thousands of patrons crowding the city’s showgrounds to enjoy People’s Day at the agricultural event.
There was no shortage of prizes, competitions, rides, food and family fun to be found at the event, which launched on Thursday and will roll on until Saturday night.

Smiles were in abundance too, even with some fan favourites from past shows missing in action.

Hugely popular Shannon’s Chips, which in past years has been rated by readers as among the best in the city, was not serving at this year’s event and the iconic ferris wheel was absent from the skyline too.

Ride prices were likely to cause a pinch to the wallet, too.

Higher prices and the loss of a few fan favourites have not stopped thousands of the region’s residents from crowding the city’s showground to enjoy People’s Day at the 2024 agricultural event.

This year’s prices ranged from $8 at the Kid’s Kingdom, which included tea cup rides and a water ball playground, to $10 for a trip on the ghost train and $12 for the iconic dodge ‘em cars.

Testing the limits on the higher end thrill rides came with a cost between $15 or $20 per ticket.

It did not discourage revellers though.

Hayley Townsend said the prices “definitely make some wise choices as to where you’re spending your money and how much you’re spending”.

“But it’s still affordable for some things, so it’s good,” she said.

There were competitions and events aplenty to entertain crowds at the 2024 Gympie Show.

Molly Isaac said prices “were a bit high, but it’s reasonable”.

Show society president Deb Brown said the show’s organisers understood families’ concerns about how far their budget would stretch and had taken steps to minimise the impact.

“We haven’t increased prices even though our expenses, some of them have raised 30 per cent,” Ms Brown said.

“We’ve had to try and absorb those costs.”

Some guests found their way around the showgrounds in unique and stylish ways.

Ms Brown was grateful for the support given by the community to keep the popular three-day event, a yearly tradition now more than a century old, running.

“Our Gympie business people, and the sponsorship we’ve received from the region, is outstanding,” she said.

The Show Girls fundraising throughout the year “helps” with out $40,000 insurance bill.

“Everything has increased in cost and that does put a big strain on the family budget but we do hope, the show is once a year, it represents what is the best in the Gympie region, we hope they budget to be able to come to the show,” Ms Brown said.

It was too early to say how may had passed through the gates on Thursday and Friday morning.

Ms Brown said the cost-of-living issues “made it difficult” to gauge what the final tally would be, but was hopeful to achieve similar results as the 2023 show.

“We had 23,000 through the gates last, so if we get up around that 20,000 mark I’d be really happy,” she said.