The weather didn’t deter the community, nor send them away, from the Bairnsdale Show at the Bairnsdale Racing Club on Saturday with an entertaining day enjoyed by all who attended.

Families flocked in droves to the racecourse and despite some minor hiccups, Bairnsdale Show president, Tarsha Dixon, was thrilled with how the event went.

“Lots of people came through the gates, especially considering it wasn’t a nice day,” she said.

“I was really happy with the amount of people that came and supported us.

“I thanked the committee, the stall holders, the food vans and the carnival people for supporting us.

“If they weren’t here there would not be a show for the community.

“If it wasn’t for the community we wouldn’t have enough money to run one next year.

“A lot of people have to come together to make it happen. It was nice to see that is what happened.

“Unfortunately we had to close the stage at about 2pm because the rain started to pool on the stage, meaning electrical equipment was getting wet.

“That was when the Lucknow Primary School was going to do an act. They had 120 students that were involved in their act and they couldn’t do it, which was disappointing for them and us. I am sure the crowd was disappointed too.

“At about 2.30pm we took people off the gates because we thought if the community stage is not happening and the weather is not great then we won’t charge the public to come in any longer. We kept going until 4pm and it was really good.”

Tarsha said a feature of the crowd, which was entertained by a number of community-based events such as woodchopping, a pie-eating contest, a goat agility demonstration, car and motorbike displays and a horse arena, was the amount of families attending.

“We had a family area that provides lots of free activities for the kids. That was something I really wanted to bring in,” she said.

“When families come through the gates they pay for entry so hopefully they don’t have to keep putting their hand in their pocket for the next two hours that they are here.

“We try to provide as much as we can for free to try and alleviate that.”

Tarsha said planning is already underway for the 2020 version, saying the show committee was already gathering feedback and looking to put in place a bigger and better show next year.

“In the next couple of weeks I want to get all the groups together so we can have a meeting and have people tell us what they thought did and didn’ t work,” she said.

“It is really important that we meet right after so it is fresh.

“The main goal is to keep building on the event. Whatever mistakes we made this year we will try and correct and make it better for next year. If we can do that then it will all just keep growing and getting better and better.”

PICTURED:  Katie and Pippa West, of Bairnsdale, and Robyn Harcourt were kept entertained in the animal pen at the Bairnsdale Show on Saturday.