PHOTO: The possible absence of the ever-popular side-show alley has been a large factor in the committee’s decision to cancel the 2025 show.
For the first time since the covid pandemic, there won’t be an annual show in 2025.
“The decision was really hard,” Coonamble Show Society president Brendan O’Connor said.
“We wrestled with it for quite a while.
“A show is a wonderful thing to put on, especially for the younger community.”
The original date for the show set by the Agricultural Societies NSW was in the week leading up to the Coonamble rodeo during the June long weekend.
This would see the two events vying for space on the showground, volunteers spread thin and families faced with the extra financial pressure of two major events in less than a week.
The Coonamble Show Society decided to seek new dates.
“We applied for a new date from the ASC and they granted us 13 & 14 May, which would be three days after Gilgandra Show.
“We also asked Coonamble Shire Council to apply for a new public holiday date, which they agreed to last week.”
However, the Showman’s Guild was unable to accommodate their request to come to Coonamble on the earlier dates as their members’ calendars were already set.
“We contacted them numerous times and when they finally came back to us they said they couldn’t guarantee that we’d get any rides.
“We tried every avenue we could to make it work.
“Our Committee weighed everything up and decided we couldn’t put on a quality show and would likely run at a substantial loss.”
Without any rides, the committee felt the event would not attract the same number of visitors.
“Unfortunately, the way it’s going these days the shows aren’t so much about the animals and agriculture, there’s more community interest in the rides and entertainment.
“We discussed looking for other entertainment to replace the sideshow rides but our entertainment budget is already stretched.
“Last year we paid $16,000 for entertainment and this would become a lot dearer and probably still not replace the draw of the sideshow.”
A change of date could also mean that numbers would be down in some of the show competitions, such as horse events, where riders follow the show circuit to accumulate points for the Sydney Royal.
The Coonamble Shire Council had already set steps in motion to reach out to the minister’s office for the change of the Coonamble show date from June to May.
Mr O’Connor said they wanted to make a final decision before the shire got too deep into discussions with the state government to change the public holiday date.
“We jumped on it before they went through all that to get the public holiday again.
“It is hugely disappointing.
“We are also aware that local volunteer groups and local businesses will miss out on some revenue by not having a show this year.”
The Show Society is now talking to Coonamble Shire regarding a possible separate event in 2025 before putting all their focus on the 2026 show to make their comeback better than ever.