By Cara Waters
The train to the Melbourne Royal Show deposits passengers straight into a line-up of sideshow stalls, dagwood dog sellers and roller-coaster rides.
Only when patrons have braved the fairy floss and show bags can they find the farm and livestock displays the show prides itself on.
Thrill seekers at the Royal Melbourne Show brave the rides. Credit: Wayne Taylor
Sandra Webb, 73, lives in Warrnambool and comes to the show every year to sell jams, fruit cakes and knitwear for the Country Women’s Association, and says she’s seen the show become increasingly commercialised over the years.
“It’s just a carnival now really,” she says. “I can remember coming as a kid and getting little tiny bottles of tomato sauce and cans of tomato soup. The kids miss out on all of that these days.”
Organisers promised this year’s Show, the 175th, would be a return to its agricultural beginnings after some farmers abandoned last year’s event and criticised it for moving away from its rural roots.
Chief executive Brad Jenkins says the Show was started by a group of farmers who wanted to promote and improve agriculture.
“That’s really been the essence of the Show,” he says. “Over the past 175 years, the Show has grown and evolved and changed to remain relevant but at the core of it, it’s still where the country meets the city. It’s a showcase of agriculture. And that’s what we’re really celebrating.”
Despite this push, some livestock entries are down. There are more than 600 entries for cattle and 300 for sheep this year, down from pre-COVID-19 when there were 600 cattle and 700 sheep entries.
Jill Noble brought her sheep to the Show from Hallston Valley Farm in Gippsland and says while it’s good to hear the Show is focusing on agriculture, “there’s always room for improvement”.
Noble says it’s hard for many sheep farmers to attend the Show because of the time of year, which is when many lambs are being born, and because of the high cost of participation.
Jill Noble is showing her sheep from her Hallston Valley farm at the Show. Credit: Wayne Taylor
“It’s very costly to come and take time off our full-time jobs,” she says. “At the same time, if we don’t come, where else can we showcase our wares? Where else can we take the best sheep in the country out on public display?”
Show organisers will be watching attendance numbers closely with 20,000 people attending on the first day of the event, which has a capacity of 50,000 people.
Children’s tickets, which were free last year, are $25 each this year because a government subsidy has ended. Adult tickets are $47.50, many rides are $13 and showbags range from $5 (for Bertie Beetle) to $35 each.
Organisers point to the extra activities on offer at the Show included in the admission price including a freestyle motocross stunt show, Bluey and Cocomelon performances and the “after dark” acts by musicians including Sheppard and Eskimo Joe.
Mixing country with carnival is not new. Previous advertisements for the Melbourne Royal Show promised motordrome riders in one year, and in another year, the “human rockets”, brother and sister Emanuel and Marcia Zachini, who were shot from a cannon at 145km/h.
Queuing with her kids for a teacups ride, Rachael Cooper says her family combines visits to the animals with the carnival attractions.
“Nostalgia from when I was a kid brings me back,” she says. “We’re going on the rides, getting some showbags and seeing the animals.”
Kids enjoy fairy floss at the show on Thursday. Credit: Wayne Taylor
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