Darling Downs show societies forced to make tough decisions

Several Darling Down show societies were forced to make tough decisions ahead of 2021 events. But there is plenty of good news for lovers of sideshow alleys.

SHOW TIME: Lochlann Hogan Katie Gimm and Blade Stoneman made the trip to the 2020 Allora Show from Warwick. This year’s show is going ahead this weekend, but will look slightly different to previous shows due to a number of COVID-Safe regulations.

Last year marked a difficult era for many country show societies across the country ,with many committees forced to cancel their annual show for the first time since World War Two.

Several of the Darling Downs shows received the same fate with many cancelled after Queensland COVID cases began to ramp up.

Despite another Brisbane lockdown in January and a myriad of strict COVID-Safe regulations and restrictions in place, the majority of Darling Downs shows are set to go ahead this year including Allora’s this weekend which will mark the 143rd show for the regional community.

Allora Show Society president, Mark Pillar said the committee was stoked to have its 2021 show going full steam ahead after having to cancel a number of 2020 events due to wet weather.

But a few beloved show traditions will look a little different to previous years.

Freestone cattleman Riley Bacon enjoyed roaring success at the Allora Show 2019.

“We have had to do a few things a little differently this year to accommodate with all of the new regulations, so we held all of our dressage events at the end of January to try and free up some of the space in the showgrounds to allow for more social distancing,” he said.

“We’ve also had to completely axe the entire cooking section due to all the new health restrictions. I’m particularly sad about this because I am going to be without all my fruitcake for morning tea and smoko.”

Mary Hamblin preparing chocolate cake for judging at the 2019 Allora Show. Unfortunately the cooking sections will not be going ahead this year due to additional COVID-Safe rules.

With the first Darling Downs show of the year taking place last weekend in Stanthorpe (Friday, January 29 to Sunday, January 31), Mr Pillar said all eyes were on the brave committee to see how they would handle all the changes.

“A lot of show committees have piggybacked off Stanthorpe’s ideas,” he said.

“They had a brilliant show last weekend and as a committee we’re taking a lot of inspiration from how they’ve run things.”

Mr Pillar said several of the most popular Allora events were still happening, including the FMX motorcycle spectacular, demolition derby and fireworks on Saturday night and the rodeo on Friday event has attracted more entrants than ever.

“We’re expecting roughly 1000 people through the gates each day, this year’s Allora Heritage Weekend (23-24 January) brought a crowd of around 5,000 on the Saturday so we’re confident the public is excited and looking forward to attending regional events like country shows again.”

Allora Show Society president Mark Pillar and Stuart Bond who has been an auctioneer at the Allora Community Auction for 43 years.

Meanwhile, almost all other shows across the Darling Downs region are set to still go ahead, except for Cooyar, which has cancelled the agricultural show but will go ahead with the campdraft.

Crows Nest will make an executive decision next Wednesday whether or not to continue with it’s show which was due to be held on Saturday, May 8 and Dalby and District Show Society are still looking for interested participants to help make the 2021 show a reality.

2021 Darling Downs show dates:

Allora: Friday, February 5 – Saturday, February 6

Clifton: Friday, February 12 – Sunday, February 14

Cooyar: The 2021 Cooyar Agricultural Show has been cancelled but the Cooyar Campdraft is still going ahead from Friday, February 19 – Sunday, February 21

Killarney: Friday, 19 and Saturday, 20 February

Bell: Saturday, February 27 and Sunday, February 28

Millmerran: Saturday, February 27 and Sunday, February 28

Pittsworth: Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6

Tara: Saturday, March 6

Inglewood: Friday, 12 – Saturday, 13 March

Oakey: Saturday, March 13

Jandowae: Saturday, March 20

Warwick: Friday, March 19 – Sunday, March 21

Goombungee: Saturday, April 10

Toowoomba: Friday, April 16 – Sunday, April 18

Goondiwindi: Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1

Crows Nest: Due to be held Saturday, May 8 but a final decision will be made at the committee meeting next Wednesday (February 10)

Texas: Saturday, July 24 and Sunday, July 25