Newcastle Show changes things up with COVID-19 restrictions in place
The Hunter’s biggest show will be doing things a little differently next year with limitations on showgoers meaning they’ll have to think creativity and put some new changes in place.
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Get ready for a different look Newcastle show next year, with COVID-19 restrictions set to see the annual event split up over two weekends, with community getting the nod over commercial for show stalls.
The regional show which brings in up to 40,000 annually will have to adapt to only 5,000 on grounds at any one time, new restrictions put in place by NSW Health.
While larger regional shows can apply for increased numbers, the Newcastle Show has been preparing for the “worst case scenario” come March.
“We’ve been building show planning off that amount and banking on that happen, we’re looking at strategies to invite more of the community over longer days,” General Manager of the Newcastle Show Gabe Robinson said.
“We need to be more creative, we try to turn every negative into a positive, so we’re splitting it up over two weekends which will enable us to have better attendance figures and giving it a chance to trial it over two weekends to have a longer show in the future.”
Mr Robinson said they’ll get back to their “grass Roots” and focus on priorities.
“I think we’ll strip back our commercial sites, and a lot of community events and gatherings that weren’t able to go ahead, we’ll reach out to a few of those organisations to take up those spaces, get more quality out of our community engagement.”
The new numbers are a considerable jump from the 500 people allowed at country shows this year, changes enforced by the NSW Government in March at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Luckily for Newcastle Show, its 2020 operations didn’t have to be cancelled like a lot of other shows across the state, missing the deadline by just a few weeks.
“Our show was delivered at a stage where you couldn’t get toilet paper at the shops and they were going missing and our hand sanitiser were going missing,” Mr Robinson joked.
“The government offered support to agricultural shows, but only ones that didn’t operate so we still suffered from COVID as we weren’t eligible for any support.
“But we’re a pretty large scale show, we have built a strong model in the last few years and that has been the backbone that has helped us get through the year.”
BACK IN BUSINESS
Meanwhile smaller regional shows are happy to be back in business as they scramble to start organising events for the new year.
The Upper Hunter Show in Muswellbrook - which attracts up to 7,000 annually - was forced to cancel in March this year just a week before the show was scheduled to start, with restrictions just too financially crippling.
It saw them about $20,000 out of pocket, with deposits for entertainment already booked.
President of the Upper Hunter Show Keith Googe said it will be great to be back in March, although there’s a lot of work to be done and changes which include COVID marshalls and contact tracing need to be put in place.
“There’s still some work complying, quite a commitment with security and ensuring people are still social distancing,” he said.
“We should comfortably be able to fall within the five thousand.”
“Organising a show for mid March, Australia shuts down in January so you get everyone talking communicating in February and half of March, the rest has to be organised prior to Christmas which is always a challenge.”
Bowral will be the first country show in NSW on the calendar, scheduled to kick off on January 9, while Maitland will be the Hunter’s first on February 19.
The Upper Hunter Show will run March 19 and 20.