Esperance Show a crowd-pleaser

Sheep, cattle, horses, alpacas, poultry and more than 10,000 people congregated for the 2017 Esperance and Districts Agricultural Society Show.

While they may not have all been on site at one time, mild weather helped visitors to enjoy all the two-day event had to offer.

Show bags and candy floss made their annual appearance, jostling for attention alongside Friday-night fireworks, extreme motorcycle riders carrying out acrobatics in the air and food stalls with mouth-watering enticements.

EDAS president Ewin Stewart said attendance was estimated at 10,000 over the two days of the show, with gate takings of around $70,000 up $10,000 on the 2016 event, which had attracted about 9000 people.

“We couldn’t have asked for better weather for the show,” he said.

“It is a good venue for people to catch up with old friends — there is a lot to see, various indoor exhibits, trade and outdoor exhibits and plenty of free entertainment.”

With showjumping, dressage, hacking, Western, working Stockhorse and breed events on the program for those interested in horses, there was plenty of action in the rings as well.

Cattle were paraded by handlers, and show visitors had the chance to view well-bred poultry and handle fine wool produced locally.

The sheep pavilion, however, was a temporary home to just a handful of Merinos, reflecting a change in farming seasons in the deep south-east of the State.

Mr Stewart said an earlier harvest had meant exhibitors were hard-pressed to find the time to prepare stud animals, including sheep, for the show.

“Harvest is now much closer to the agricultural show, making it logistically difficult for some to attend,” he said.

“We used to hope to finish harvest in time for us to spend a week camping at the beach before the children went back to school. These days, they start in October and are finished by Christmas.”

Exhibitors such as McIntosh and Son also continue to view the Esperance Show in a positive light, with the company’s senior sales representative saying the event enabled existing and new customers to view the latest developments in farm machinery.