Emerald Show 2022: Times, events and details of event

At least 15,000 people are expected to chow down on dagwood dogs and fairy floss as the annual Emerald Show begins in the Central Highlands this week. Here’s what you need to know about the event.

Millicent Fleming

3 min read

May 30, 2022 - 3:01PM

Community members enjoyed two days out at the 2021 Emerald Show on June 1 and 2, which had sideshow alley, horse events, a petting zoo, duck races, Bluey shows, a fashion show, woodchopping and more.

Central Queensland

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At least 15,000 people are expected to chow down on dagwood dogs and fairy floss as the annual Emerald Show begins in the Central Highlands this week.

The Emerald Show starts on Tuesday, May 31 and Wednesday, June 1, with a huge range of food, entertainment and fun on offer.

The gates open on Tuesday at 8am and close at midnight with fireworks and night amusements, which include a performance by singer Luke Geiger after the fireworks that start at 8.30pm.

On Wednesday the gates open at 8am and close at 4:30pm.

The show has also organised a ‘quieter time’ on Tuesday from 9am to 3pm.

Emerald Show Society secretary Samantha Elsden said this enabled families with children with diverse needs to experience the show.

“It’s just something that we wanted to offer our community,” she said.

“Our Showman’s Guild are really great.

“And they turn down as much music, and lights, and noise as possible, so then kids can go through and they can try the jumping castle, and they can try the clowns without too much stimulation to overload or overwhelm them.

“And then our entertainment are also really considerate and do things a little bit differently for that audience.

“It just lets families come to the show together, and have some fun, and experience it.

“We’ve had kids come and say that ‘we’ve never been able to come to the show because our brother gets too overwhelmed’, so it’s really nice for the whole family to be able to experience it. It’s a nice day out.”

The Emerald Show Society has noticed on Facebook there have been a number of fake ticket sale scams.

The Emerald Show Society advised all tickets must be in the name of the person using them and people should only purchase tickets through official channels so they aren’t refused entry.

The Emerald Show Society also said if you were a current ticket holder and unable to attend the show to contact them for a refund and to have the ticket voided.

Ms Elsden said that last year somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 people attended the show and they were expecting more than 15,000 people to attend this year’s event.

This year the show has a new event, Lego creations.

Community members enjoyed two days out at the 2021 Emerald Show on June 1 and 2, which had sideshow alley, horse events, a petting zoo, duck races, Bluey shows, a fashion show, woodchopping and more.

For those interested in Virtual Reality there will be a VR farming bus where people put on VR goggles and can be involved in agriculture displays.

An event Ms Elsden believes to be one of the only of its kind in terms of show competitions is the Central Highlands Cotton Growers and Irrigators Association Cotton Picker Pull, which involves teams of 12 people over the age of 16 physically dragging a cotton picking machine that weighs more than 13 tonnes over a certain distance.

Teams can be women’s, men’s and mixed.

There are two divisions and the team with the fastest time wins.

The competition is on in the main arena Tuesday night and teams can nominate for entry up to 5pm that day on Trybooking.

It should be noted that shoes with spikes aren’t allowed to be worn by competitors.

Teams that place from first to fifth receive prize money to donate to a charity of their choice.

Ms Elsden’s favourite thing about the show is that there is something for everyone.

“I just like the family aspect of it,” she said.

“That it is a really nice way for families to go to an event, and everyone have something that they like and that they can take away from it, and the people aspect of it.”

For adults, the cost of a ticket for one day is $20 per person or $35 per person for both days, for people with concession and high school students it’s $10 per person, and there is free entry for children primary school aged and younger.

More information can be found on the Emerald Show Society Facebook page and the Emerald Show Society website.