The Show has been and gone - it seems like ages ago now, but it is only just a month ago when I am writing this article.  The weather wasn't the best - July is very hard to predict these days.

Those 'highs' in the Great Australian Bight just don't get quite high enough into South Australia any more to give us the lovely crisp frosty mornings, blue skies etc.  Have you noticed too that the Westerley winds don't blow as hard or as long as they used to.  Wonder why that is?  We'll probably get a howler tonight - now that I've put the 'mickey' on it.
Friday was a great day, with lots of kids on horses from all over the place.  The competitors love coming on local day because they can all participate and have fun and no-one is competing for sheep stations.  (And it's cheap to get in!!!)  The showjumping on both Friday and Saturday was strongly contested.  Our thanks to Chris and Kerry for setting up the ring the week before and to Mr Athol Clark and his lovely wife Pam, who come each year from Coff's Harbour to judge for us for the Open competition.  Disappointing entries on Saturday and Sunday in the stud breeds for ponies and horses, especially after all the hard work that our Ring Master Alicia put in to organising Points Shows, extra classes requested by the breed societies etc.  One judge came from near Beaudesert to judge 2 horses.  This is one area that we don't know how to increase the participation by exhibitors.  We have been trying for years.  Team penning was held over both days, and here again entry numbers were down, but a great competition was run.  The Cow Horse Club ran the 'Past the Post' comp. again, and this was well supported. 
The woodchopping program once again was a huge hit.  The Axemen are really pleased with what events are on offer for them, and this is due to the work of Rhylle Winn and his crew.  Welcome and thanks to the new groundsmen who have joined the woodchop team - we really do appreciate the younger legs and muscles to rake the chips and wheel the barrows etc.  On Monday you wouldn't have known that there had been a major competition in the area.
Our entertainment budget got blown, but that doesn't really matter - it costs a lot of money to provide all the free entertainment that everyone can enjoy.  The fireworks on Saturday night were fantastic.  If you missed them, you missed something very spectacular.  Our sincere thanks go to K.C.'s Fireworks, Dynamic Auto Services and Dayboro Produce and Hardware for this wonderful display.  Next year I'm led to believe that we will be having a visit from a reasonably sized scrub python at the Dreamtime Reptiles show.  Already we are getting lots of information coming through on all sorts of entertainment that is available - most of it costs more than our whole budget, but sometimes there is something that we can afford.
This is just a very brief overview - we don't know yet whether we came out in front as there are still accounts coming in to be paid, and some sponsorships are still outstanding, so we should know in a month or two.
Our gate takings were down, that much we do know, and this is what helps to pay all the incidental bills, like the rubbish removal, hire of tents etc, the sound system, the St Johns Ambulance, and all those things that we must have because of  legal and government requirements. 
Our sincere thanks gp to everyone who helped make the show the success that it was - stewards, volunteers in the kitchen, gatekeepers, stall and displays holders, entertainers, competitors in each and every section whether it be indoors or outdoors (and for some both), judges and officials, the paying public, and last but by no means least our Sponsors - without your ongoing support of the different sections we wouldn't be able to run the show to the standard we do.
Thank you
George, Errol, Maria and Alison.