Catch up with the whole town at the Show

By ERWIN CHLANDA
 
 
All the people who you haven’t managed to keep in touch with for a while will be at the 55th Annual Show tomorrow and Saturday.
 
 
Find them in the crowd which is usually around 20,000. And that’s not bad for a town with a population of 25,186!
 
 
Highlights will be the pet nursery, Cool 4 Kids all day with concerts at 10am, 12noon and 2pm, Viv’s Animal Farm (all day), stilt walkers, V8 Utes, show girl events and the official opening by Chief Minister Adam Giles and grand parade at 2.30pm.
 
 
The 32 entry sections will include a show of Central Australia’s best cattle, art, poultry, creative crafts, dogs, hobbies, home grown fruit & veg, horse events, photography, pet and animal nursery, riding for the disabled and sweet treats.
 
 
And, of course, there’s the sideshow alley and plenty of food.
 
 
Yesterday the big arena (above) was all wide open spaces, with just Carreene Groves on JD (centre) and Tanya Gardiner on B being put through their paces by trainer Jamie Murray.
 
 
The grandstand was empty and the sideshow alley – at left in the photo – under construction. Tomorrow all this will be bustling with life, with horse events from dressage, hack, harness, led, novelty, rider, show jumping, topsy and Western sections.
 
 
There will also be traditional stockmen events including Maiden Draft, Team Penning and Stockman’s Challenge and the Bill Hayes Memorial Bronco Branding in remembrance of this great Central Australian’s contributions to the Show.
 
 
Above right: An early arriving Show goer yesterday is Mick Chilcott from the Gold Coast, traveling with his wife Christine in an immaculately restored 26 year old Austral bus, built in Australia. The retired bus driver, with no fixed destination, says they were “just traveling” and thought the Show would be a good enough reason to stick around for a few days.