After the most well attended Sydney Royal Show since 2004 last year, the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW is excited by the prospect of another bumper show this year.
The official final attendance of last year’s Show was 922,827, well up on the forcasted attendance of 850,000 showgoers.
The 2004 show saw the high attendance of 964,000, a figure which has not been reached since.
The biggest daily attendances in 2017 were Good Friday 119,949 and Easter Monday 112,554.
This year’s Show, being held from Friday, March 23 until Tuesday, April 3, will be the 20th held at the Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park.
It has all the hallmarks of being another crowd-pleaser.
Visitors will be able to check out the newest innovations in agriculture at the Farm of the Future exhibit.
There will be a demonstration on how mustering can be done by a drone and how a crop can be planted by a robot.
Visitors will leave thinking they have just stepped off the farm with the virtual reality exhibit.
For the ‘wannabe’ young farmers, the Little Hands on the Land is a kid-sized working farm designed to teach children agriculture from crop to shop.
The children journey through nine stations where they collect produce to take to market.
Once there, they trade it in for ‘farm dollars’ which can be spent at the supermarket.
As well as exhibits, a huge feature of the Show will again be the competitions.
Earning a ribbon at the Sydney Royal Show is a real ‘feather in the cap’ for any producer.
Competitions are held for alpacas, aquaculture, aviary birds, beer and cider, beef, chocolate, cats, cattle, cheese and dairy produce, coffee, deli meats, dogs, flower and gardens, goats, honey, horses, lamb, olive oil, pasta, pigs, pork, poultry and pigeon, sheep and fleece, and wines.
There are also school competitions, the Rural Achiever award, The Land Showgirl competition, the President’s Medal for the Supreme Champions of the Sydney Royal Wine, Dairy and Food Shows, the Great Backyard Pumpkin Challenge, Young Auctioneers, the Young Farmer Challenge, and the Young Judges competitions as well as many more.
