Royal Melbourne Show will go ahead, as Adelaide Show cancelled

Organisers say The Royal Melbourne Show will still go ahead, despite the Adelaide Show being cancelled today due to coronavirus. The events are scheduled only weeks apart.

Organisers remain hopeful the Royal Melbourne Show will go ahead. Picture: Andy Rogers

ORGANISERS of the Royal Melbourne Show say the 2020 event will still go ahead as its Adelaide equivalent pulled the plug today.

The Royal Adelaide Show is the latest in a series of events nationwide to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic — only the fifth time it has not been held in its 181-year history.

Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of South Australia chief executive John Rothwell made the announcement in Adelaide today.

He said health and safety was the reason behind the decision, especially with the show drawing about half a million people across 10 days.

“We can have anywhere from 50,000 people to 80,000 people attend the show in one day and that doesn’t seem in order with the circumstances we currently have,” Mr Rothwell told The Adelaide Advertiser.

The Royal Adelaide Show was originally scheduled to take place between September 4 and 13. Many exhibitors then make their way down the Western Highway to the Royal Melbourne Show, which is still scheduled for September 19 to 29.

A spokesman for the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria told The Weekly Times that Melbourne’s 2020 event will still go ahead, despite the Adelaide announcement.

However, he said organisers will meet later this month to determine the RASV’s next move ahead of the September event.

Last week, RASV chief executive Brad Jenkins said the society remained “hopeful” that the September showcase would operate in some form.

“At this stage, we are preparing for (the show), however we are also considering options and contingencies in the case that it’s not able to be held in September 2020,” Mr Jenkins said.

“We are living in extraordinary and challenging times and the issue of COVID-19 is evolving rapidly. The RASV will continue to monitor the situation and will be guided by the advice issued by the Federal and State Government along with the relevant health authorities.”

Adelaide Show organisers said today that letting exhibitors know early was another factor behind the cancellation of SA’s main agricultural event.

“The lead time for exhibitors can be many months and we would have been only 140 days out from the first day of the show,” Mr Rothwell said.

“We usually have many exhibitors from interstate and competitors and judges from overseas, who have a long lead time in their planning.”