All in working order for the Wairoa A&P Show

Ready for the show next week - new Wairoa A&P Show event manager Alice Wilson, and dad and sheep section convener Fenton Wilson.

On a day where much of Hawke’s Bay and the East Coast was wondering what would come next after more than 100 millimetres of rainfall in a few days, Wairoa A&P Society president Ian Denton was looking down confidently from an island of hope as he looked forward to the annual show next week.

As he looked down from Te Uhi Hill late on Wednesday morning, the rain and overnight drizzle had stopped, and it was “hot and sunny” – a befitting scenario allowing for their survival for the next week-and-a-half, serving as an homage to the volunteers who make Northern Hawke’s Bay’s biggest annual event happen each year.

The show, which dates back to a ram sale and show held at Frasertown in 1899, will be held on Friday and Saturday of January 20-21, the trip to town extended for the equestrian sector with the Wairoa Jumping Show on Sunday.

There were about 26 people at the traditional pre-show showgrounds working bee last Sunday, and the job was done in less than half a day, with one lament from the man in the chair: “There weren’t enough blokes.”

No-one worried about the inclemency of the weather, and the impressed 77-year-old farming and show stalwart said: “If you were working hard, you didn’t get time to stop and get wet.”

Included was the extending of the sheep pens, unique considering the diminishing numbers of farm livestock at A&P shows throughout the country.

The annual working bee at the Wairoa showgrounds, ahead of the show on January 20-21.

Event manager Alice Wilson - whose mum, Sue, is a former secretary and event manager, and whose dad, Fenton, is the show’s wool section manager - says the pens will provide particularly good space for those still showing stock, including the black and coloured sheep, which have an increasingly special place in the show.

On the Saturday, the public will be able to follow a fleece from shearing through spinning (by members of the Wairoa Woolly Wanderer spinning group) to completion of a garment, in front of the pavilion on the fringes of the equestrian circle.

Much of the attraction of the show remains with its showjumping and the central events of rodeo, shearing and sheep dog trials alongside each other east of the main oval, fairground and trade displays.

The “local” rodeo and a speed shear provide a double-bill Friday-night attraction, leading into the nationally-registered rodeo championships and the Wairoa Shears on the Saturday.

Sandwiched between the Gisborne Rodeo this weekend (January 14-15) and the Upper Mohaka Rodeo near the State Highway 5 landmark of the Mohaka Bridge on January 22, the Wairoa rodeo attracts competitors from throughout the North Island.

The Shears, despite being shearing-only, has in some recent years attracted more entries than any of the other five Shearing Sports New Zealand competitions being held on the same weekend, two of which, in Southland, also include woolhandling competitions.

However, Denton, who began farming as a 17-year-old shepherd in 1962 and who has competed at the show in equestrian, rodeo and dog trial events (his brother competed in the shearing), was worried by the lower-than-usual numbers for this year’s dog trials.

Less than 50 entries had been received by the “official” closing on December 30, but they remain open, with the urging of competitors to get in behind smartly.

It was possible the trials, historically run over two days and with entries sometimes totalling over 100, could be limited to one day.

The show is the third of four A&P shows in Hawke’s Bay each year, following the Hawke’s Bay show in Hastings in October and the Central Hawke’s Bay show in Waipukurau in November, and comes a fortnight ahead of the Dannevirke show which will run from February 3 - 5.