Coffs Harbour Showground secures another $3m for new exhibition hall

There’s no stimulus like show stimulus as more money directed to home of markets, festivals and rodeos.

Draft drawings of the new exhibition hall at the Coffs Harbour Showground. The showground has been given more than $3 million for the new hall as well as amenities and entrance upgrades.

Proving there’s no stimulus like show stimulus, the state government has allocated another $3.2 million to the Coffs Harbour Showground, this time for upgrades to the exhibition hall.

The money forms part of its Covid-19 showground stimulus program and is the latest in a long line of big ticket upgrades to the ageing facility announced in the past 18 months.

In July last year more than $300,000 was pledged for the construction of a meeting room and reconstruction of roofing and the showground entrance.

Then in January, a $4 million plan to demolish and replace the old grandstand was announced.

The 50-year-old wooden structure will be replaced with something a little more modern which would also increase its capacity from about 400 to 1200 people.

Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh with Coffs Harbour Showground Land Managers Board secretary John Clark (left) and Showground manager Steve Sullivan.

Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh said this latest investment would go toward a two-bay extension to the exhibition hall, construction of a new entry, meeting rooms, amenities and storage facilities.

“Local showgrounds are multi-use facilities used for a variety of activities such as agricultural shows, rodeos and horse clubs, markets, festivals, men’s sheds, sport and recreation, and caravanning and camping,” Mr Singh said.

“During bushfires and floods, many also serve as emergency centres for residents, animals, firefighters and other support services.

“So we want them in good shape.”

In total, the state government has allocated more than $72 million to 892 projects across 189 showgrounds after five rounds of the Covid-19 stimulus program.