By Tania Phillips
The first Allora Show in two years has been declared a success according to show society treasure Ian Tate – though the brand-new sand base for the horse arena missed the big event by two days.
Workmen were busy at 6am on Monday morning starting to lay the new sand arena which will be used in many of the events coming up at the showground in coming months.
“We were that close, but we just couldn’t time it,” he said.
The grant for the new surface, which should be complete by the weekend, came from the Southwest Service Area for Sport and Recreation, Department of Tourism, Innovation and Sport.
However, despite not having the sand surface in place, Ian said the show was still a big success and brought the Allora community together.
“The feedback we’ve received has been very positive,” Ian Tate said.
“We’ve had no negative vibes.”
He said there were great numbers for the major night events, the bull spectacular in their new arena on Friday night and the Smash Up Derby on the Saturday. And the horse event, organized by Steward Carol Lyall on the Saturday, attracted a large number of entrants.
“The owner of Shannon’s Chips, who goes to all the shows and is very well known, said he had never seen so many horses at an event,” Ian said.
“Carol Lyall did an absolutely fantastic job, she did a lot of hard work, the equestrian world were supporting her and it went really, really well.”
While the committee had been worried about volunteers in the leadup to the show Mr Tate said they had “come out of the woodwork,” led by long-time show president Shirley Cornhill, to help make the show a true community event. And while there were plenty of new faces, three of the region’s most loyal show volunteers June Bool, Heather Petersen and Marg Rackley, were award life membership to the show society for their service.
