we went to ‘the show’
When Easter comes round, so does the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Fondly termed simply as ‘The Show’, this is an event spanning 14 days showcasing the BEST of Australia’s agriculture, arts and crafts and food and wine.
Located at the Sydney Showground (in the vicinity of where most of the 2000 Sydney Olympics were hosted), almost 1 million people annually visit the show. It is a tradition 🙂 There really is something for everyone at the show.
It has been at least 4-5 years since we’ve been ourselves and 2015, we felt was a year to pay it another visit.
When we go, we love looking at all the exhibits and animals. There are competition winners everywhere; #1 rooster, #1 llama, #1 cow, best drawing, best tapestry… even the biggest and heaviest pumpkin.
An opportunity for everyone to showcase their skills in raising and grooming an animal/vegetable/plant.
But it’s not all about the agriculture, those who have a flair in the arts and crafts get their chance to shine too.
For youngsters, there are petting zoos, animal nurseries, carnival games and rides – and don’t forget the show-bags. We remember buying those as kids and now we can see they’re predominantly filled with junk & junk food (occasionally there is a goodie in there).
A few of our favourites at the show….
- the District Exhibit which is a display made up of fruit, vegetables, grains, pulses and wool from five different agriculture regions. This year the display commemorates the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC Gallipoli landing during WWI. It was very impressive as it is every year.
- the Woodchopping challenge where people of all ages race against one another to chop through blocks of wood. With woodchips flying everywhere and axes being wielded around, it does stir up excitement for us when we were kids and even now as adults.
And needless to say, with a show like this, there is the typical fair food (all healthy of course) – with the choice of hot dogs, turkey legs, corn on the cob, fairy floss (aka cotton candy), hot chips plus more.
Actually the last time we went to the show, we bought a bucket of fairy floss and since that day, we have NEVER touched fairy floss again.
But no fair/fete/carnival/show is complete for us without our buttered corn on the cob!
We were battered with rain that day but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. We made sure we visited all the pavilions/displays and even had a go with the carnival games.
And to be honest, we’ve had our fix for now. Maybe 2020 will see us pay ‘The Show’ another visit.
Do you have an annual event in your home city that you enjoy attending?
Share it with us here
wise monkeys abroad 
May 5, 2015 at 2:22 am
Brilliant! Your post brought back happy memories of visiting the Alaska State Fair in the autumn of 2007. Thanks, Monkeys!
May 5, 2015 at 9:24 pm
Glad to have helped relive some memories 🙂
April 16, 2015 at 2:47 am
what a great event do u have there. in indonesia we have amny events and for bazaar is almost every weekend
April 16, 2015 at 9:20 pm
Wow… every weekend?!! That’s amazing! We have never been to Indonesia but we might sure have to, so we can check these out!
April 21, 2015 at 1:59 am
yes it called “pasar kaget” lol means weekend market lol
April 13, 2015 at 9:46 pm
Looks like you guys had a great time…so much fun and food!
April 16, 2015 at 9:19 pm
Yes we had plenty of food and fun there! But we’ve have our dose for the next few years now 🙂
April 9, 2015 at 10:58 am
Wonderful, thank you! Brought back fond memories of Royal Melbourne Show, – where show-bags were a highlight.
April 9, 2015 at 11:10 pm
Thank you for your lovely message – we are glad to have been able to rekindle good memories for you 🙂
April 8, 2015 at 7:16 am
What is that spirally thing on a stick? I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I’m not surprised you are turned off fairy floss after eating a bucket of it. I love that show themed cake. If that was second prize what did the winner look like? Some people are so clever.
April 8, 2015 at 9:06 pm
It’s chips on a stick…. crunchy and tasty and surely unhealthy 😉
There were so many different awards, we found it hard to keep track who won and why! We did see an amazing cake of a kangaroo on top of a Vegemite jar! people are so talented 🙂
April 7, 2015 at 8:03 pm
I do ! Each year, there is “fêtes de Wallonie” or Day of Wallonia in English, in the French part of Belgium and this is awesome. It’s always the third weekend of September. There are lots of free activities, including concerts of famous bands sometimes 🙂
April 8, 2015 at 9:12 pm
Oh wow! That sounds like something we would like to see one day 🙂 We have relatives in Belgium so it’s no excuse for us not visit there more often!
April 8, 2015 at 11:54 pm
It’s full of people, so it may not be the best for people who don’t like crowds 🙂
April 7, 2015 at 5:02 pm
Glad you did that – saved me the trouble 🙂 We have been only once to the Homebush venue (we had 6 y.o.and 5 y.o grandchildren in tow to add to the fun) – didn’t seem to have the same atmosphere as the old RAS Showground at Moore Park. The District Displays are still the highlight for us grown ups. Oh. and fairy floss should be freshly spun on a wooden stick – not jammed into a play dough bucket LOL
April 8, 2015 at 9:11 pm
Ah – well we have no kids in tow and it is daunting and tiring enough. That was brave of you 🙂
Yes, as kids at Moore Park, we do remember a different feel. Less industrialised and a little more rustic 🙂
Hope you had a fabulous Easter long weekend!
April 7, 2015 at 12:14 pm
This looks amazing! Much like a state fair here in the States. Like you, not something I want to do every year, but great when I do go!
April 8, 2015 at 9:07 pm
Much like us… fun to go when we do go but not something we HAVE to go to 🙂
April 7, 2015 at 7:53 am
I wish I had been along for this show!
April 7, 2015 at 8:46 am
Maybe one day you can organise a trip to Sydney over the Easter period and tee it up so you can attend this 🙂
April 7, 2015 at 7:28 am
This looks like so much fun! I love going to fairs like this (not that I find them often) but there are so many things about them that remind me of my childhood such as the candy floss for example! Such a fun day out!
April 7, 2015 at 8:46 am
YES!!! That’s why we love them too, it really does take us back to our childhood… and we always laugh at how as adults some of the things we were so excited about must’ve drove our parents CRAZY! Hahahah! Hope you had a great weekend.
April 7, 2015 at 5:16 am
Never met a fair I didn’t like. I could happily spend several days wandering through yours. 🙂 –Curt
April 7, 2015 at 8:45 am
Fairs, fetes, carnivals and shows… we love these type of things. There are all these little treasures to discover and talent to witness, right?! And the atmosphere is just so energetic and vibrant 🙂
April 7, 2015 at 3:46 am
I wish I did!
April 7, 2015 at 8:44 am
Are there no events locally hosted that you attend? Festivals, national holidays??
April 7, 2015 at 3:36 am
Sounds like fun! Those District Exhibits look impressive. I can see how you would not want any more fairy floss candy after eating that bucket haha.. I’ve never chopped wood, it’s in my silly wishlist.
April 7, 2015 at 8:43 am
Those district exhibits every year are amazing – to think it’s all created and laid out with fruit and vegetables. It definitely was fun… but eating a bucket of the fairy floss was not! (LOL – never again!)
April 7, 2015 at 12:48 pm
I have always had a special liking for what we call cotton candy, and you call fairy floss. I’d like some of that right now!
April 8, 2015 at 9:08 pm
Betcha won’t want any if you had a bucketful 😉
But we do admit… there is something fun about it just dissolving in our mouths 🙂
April 7, 2015 at 2:21 am
This sounds a lot like our Ohio State Fair with a wide variety of events and displays included. Our small town of Cambridge, Ohio has two annual events that are big crowd attractors. One is the summer Salt Fork Arts & Crafts Festival and another our winter Dickens Victorian Village. There is opportunity for fun wherever you live.
April 7, 2015 at 8:41 am
Oooh – they sound like a lot of fun! One day we would LOVE to go to a fair in the US.
Do you go to any of those ever year?
April 7, 2015 at 12:52 pm
The Ohio State Fair is a very large one and lasts for a couple of weeks. I go quite often but not every year. Each county also has their own smaller fair in the fall of the year where everyone exhibits their specialty. Sometimes it is more fun to attend the county one as it is also a place to visit with old friends.
April 8, 2015 at 9:09 pm
We can only imagine….. 🙂
April 7, 2015 at 1:18 am
wow, that looks like an mammoth show, I’ve only ever been to small scale agricultural shows but I love wandering around the homemade/homegrown stuff: how clever and creative people are!
I like the woodchopping picture, that looks really fun!
April 7, 2015 at 8:40 am
The woodchopping is so incredible to watch. We were watching the over 60s battling it out and we just couldn’t believe their strength and fitness! Astounding!
We love these types of things where we can just wander around: markets are another one that we enjoy!!
April 6, 2015 at 11:22 pm
Well we got some annual festivities in this city and also in the cities we lived before but did not attend any at all or for many years. In Finland it was the problem to get t here as we lived a bit away from the center and were not eager to have an hour long trip on some bus and parking lots were filled up to the end so taking the car was also never an option 😦
April 7, 2015 at 8:39 am
Oh yes, because driving to these things are always nightmarish!! We live only about 3km away and it’s an easy train trip there 🙂 Maybe when Nathan is a bit older, you will want to travel far and wide so he can enjoy carnivals 🙂
April 6, 2015 at 10:46 pm
Urk, the idea of a bucket of fairy floss has left me quite queasy!
April 7, 2015 at 8:36 am
Yeh…. we were young and silly then! 😉 We wanted to relive a childhood dream of eating as many sweets as we can! Never again….