Bombala Exhibition Society Inc.
Our 2024 Bombala Show is all about agriculture!
On behalf of our amazing and hard working Bombala Exhibition Society committee and volunteers, I’d like to warmly invite you to join as at Bombala Show ground on Saturday, March 16, to celebrate all things agricultural. Our official show opening will this year take place at 11am on Saturday, with Member for Monaro Steve Whan opening the show, along with our 2024 Bombala Citizen of the Year, Dianne Ingram.
With an exceptional range of poultry exhibits, live cattle on show day plus on-farm commercial cattle judging, sheep exhibits, competitive yard dog trialing and wood chopping exhibits on offer – along with your ‘once in a lifetime’ chance to get up close to (and then guess!) the weight of a Brahman Bull – we’re sure the final Ag Show of the Group 6 show season will certainly be worth crowing, barking and bleating about!
Bombala Show is (and always will be) all about family and our younger generations too. So we’re excited to confirm that we will once again be offering our region’s children the chance to enjoy ALL the fun of the show – including a FAB range of amusement rides and inflatables, live shows, face painting and even a TINY ZOO – for the great price of a $15 kids entertainment wrist band. Family entry to Bombala Show is just $25 and children under 5 years have free entry – making Bombala Show one of the most AFFORDABLE family days out around!
Our ever popular Exhibition Hall and Supper Room will be buzzing all day on Saturday, with another exceptional year of local agricultural produce, flowers, condiments, art work, photography, children’s Leggo(TM) and craft, home baking, quilts and handicrafts on display. Bombala Show is also ALL ABOUT LOCALS, and show day is YOUR TIME TO SHINE! So if you’re reading this article on Wednesday, there is still time to make your way down to the Bombala Show ground CWA rooms and enter your exhibit/s in our 2024 show. Yes…I’m talking to you!
Our ever-popular Supper Room will be once again wowing the crowds with an amazing array of home-cooked delights and lunch options and is open from 12pm until 4pm on show day.
All monies raised by our supper room go straight back into the costs of putting on our beautiful Bombala Show.
With great entries for Bombala Show’s woodchop competition, the South East Axemen’s Association competitors will once again have the chance to show off their incredible skills, before many of them head off to compete at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
This exciting, enthralling and fast paced wood chop event is always a crowd pleaser across the day. But these events would also not be possible without the incredible support of both the Axemen Association’s members and all our wonderful business and individual sponsors who step up each year. Thank you!
Indeed, with strong entries now received across all our agricultural and horse events, Bombala Show is set to have something for EVERYONE! Show goers will be able to enjoy two rings of equestrian show jumping across the day on Saturday, while horse enthusiasts will be able to saddle up for a second time on Sunday, March 17, with a full horse hack, hunter and breed show on offer (entries are still open via Global Entries Online for our horse events). Our ever-popular FUNkhana ring offers those younger horse competitors, including those tiny tots who can ride their pony with Mum or Dad leading them, to enjoy a truly memorable and fun Sunday with their horses. These events are all about encouraging our next generation of Monaro horse people to learn and grow their horsemanship skills, so I’d encourage all our region’s parents to come along and enjoy the fun – with all ages, ponies and riders VERY welcome. Need some horsey help? Call Anita on 0428 613 344 or Sam on 0409 032 019.
On a final and slightly more somber note, I’d like to echo the sentiments of a number of show volunteers from across the Monaro and South Coast this year, who have all been working tirelessly to keep our local shows surviving and thriving. ‘USE IT OR LOSE IT’ is the key message from all of these committees or volunteers, who completely rely on strong show attendance and competitor entries to allow their shows to survive financially. Just as the cost of living has increased for all our households, so to has the cost of running local events and putting on a show day with ‘something for everyone’.
Arguably, our local show days, across the south east region, are the pinnacle of what living in country Australia is all about. Our local Ag Shows truly represent what it means to be a ‘country person’, a ‘local’ and a ‘lover of the land’. And they also demonstrate the true resilience and strength of our local, country communities. But this community ‘super power’ also involves countless ‘people hours’ of community service, hundreds of emails, phone calls and last minute decisions and a whole lot of fun and inspiration. So as our 2024 Bombala Show approaches, I urge those of your in our community who have some time and energy to spare, to please consider coming along to our Bombala Exhibition Society AGM later this year OR to reach out to bombalashow@gmail.com (or chat to me on show day!), if you’re keen to ensure our beautiful Bombala Show continues to survive and thrive into the future.
As always, the entire BES Executive and General Committee is always keen to hear from our community with any ideas, suggestions or offers of support – with plenty of ‘small but fun jobs’ on offer in the lead up to (or even just on) show day. If you can lend a hand, please call Nadean on 0409 583 290.
Our show day obviously does not happen without the generous and incredibly knowledgeable and diverse support of our community volunteers, show stewards, judges and community groups. But it also doesn’t happen without the amazing and loyal support of our many individual, businesses and corporate sponsors who continue to keep generously giving to our annual show, so that we can GIVE BACK to our local community. Thank you, one and all, for everything you all do.
I’ll see YOU at the SHOW!
Sophie Campbell
President
Bombala Exhibition Society
