THE Queanbeyan show returns in November after a pandemic-enforced break, with organisers hoping for record crowd numbers and competition entries. 

Cancelled for two consecutive years due to COVID-19, Queanbeyan Show Society treasurer Bill Lilley said people were “excited” to welcome the historic show back after a 1096-day absence.

“It’s going to be a bumper show,” said Lilley, 75.

“People have had enough of being locked up and staying away from things.

“By the time November rolls around and the weather is nice again we expect people will be itching to get out and have a great time.”

The 2019 Queanbeyan show was a huge success with record gate takings and 1500 pavilion entries.

Organisers are hoping the same amount of energy and enthusiasm will greet the 2022 running of the show despite a two-year hiatus.

“Last year we had a false start because we were going to have the show and then, because of the lockdown, it all went pear shaped and it didn’t happen,” said Lilley.

“This year people are ready and getting excited again so we are hoping for a really good turn out.”

No-one is more pleased to see the show return than show stalwart Janice Moore, 68, who hasn’t missed a Queanbeyan show in 67 years.

Moore said she’s proud of her family’s involvement in the show that spans  five generations.

“Dad was president, my great uncle was president, and my great great grandfather was president as well,” said Moore.

“Mum was a steward for 75 years from the day she met my dad until she was in her 90s, when she decided to give it up.”

Her mother’s commitment to the show was beyond question, attending while heavily pregnant and delivering her daughter the same night.

“I was born on the day of the Queanbeyan Show in 1954,” said Moore.

“Mum came to the show that day then left to give birth to me, I was born about 9pm that night.

“The show is something we have always been involved in as a family.”

The chief pavilion steward for the past 26 years, Moore has noticed a change in the level of interest in pavilion exhibits from year to year.

“Some years the pavilion is so full we don’t know where to put things, other years it slacks off a bit, but then it bounces back again,” she said.

Inside the pavilion showgoers will find displays of cookery, art, flowers, produce, jams, preserves, wool, and needlework with most entries open to exhibitors until November 7.

By far the most popular exhibits year in and year out are the photography and fleece sections.

“The photography section is enormous and we have had to limit entries to three per person, because it’s such a popular section,” Moore said.

“The fleece section is very popular, a lot of people like coming to look at that and we get a lot of people from Yass, Adaminaby and Canberra entering things.”

All the usual show favourites are returning this year including the farmyard nursery, woodchopping and sideshow alley.

“We have the poultry, horse and goat sections, too; and a mini goats judging section,” said Moore.

“There will be free entertainment for the kids, the big concert on Saturday night is the Choir Boys, and there’ll be fireworks.”

There’s only been a handful of years in its 125-year history that the Queanbeyan show hasn’t been held due to war, drought or, more recently, the global pandemic.

“It’s been running for a long time and it’s changed a lot over the years to be more modern but it still has that traditional feel and country vibe,” said Lilley, a retired car dealership owner who’s been involved with the show society for the past six years.

“When I was a kid we’d come to the show to watch the boxing in the boxing tent.

“And my father was a keen gardener so he’d enter his potatoes and there’d be a good honest rivalry between him and the other fellows because they all wanted to win.”

Like many volunteer organisations, the show society is looking for younger volunteers to bolster its ageing membership.

“The show is a big event and there’s lots of work to do so we definitely need some help,” Lilley said.

“Our oldest member is in his 80s so we are all getting a bit old and need some young blood.”

The 125th Queanbeyan Show, November 12-13, Queanbeyan Showground.