Wairoa A&P show is cancelled, but town gets a big day out

A working bee at the Wairoa A&P Showgrounds in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle earlier this year. But with other weather events adding to the problems, the 2024 show won’t be able to go ahead at the showgrounds, and a fair will be held in town instead. Photo / Alice Wilson

The Wairoa A&P Society is taking its January show to town after deciding it cannot hold the big annual event at its showgrounds because of damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle and other climatic nightmares of 2023.

The society has announced that despite hundreds of volunteers working on repairing and clearing the site where the show has been held annually for more than a century, it won’t be ready for it to “safely” hold the show on January 19-20, so the decision has been made to stage a Friday-night and Saturday fair in the town centre on the same dates.

In the circumstances, Wairoa District Mayor Craig Little is excited about the fair in town, saying the society, of which he was president about 20-25 years ago, has established “a good young crew” to take the show forward.

“It was heartbreaking,” he said, commenting on the damage, and said the committee deserved all the support it could get from the area and elsewhere to make the fair a success, as it responds to the devastation of 2023 and then works towards the return of the show in 2025.

A&P society event manager Alice Wilson said that since the cyclone, the society and volunteers had been working hard to try to get the showgrounds ready — “but it’s been a big job, and we’ve still got lots to do”.

There have been several “working bees” with large turnouts of volunteers to clear tonnes of silt and debris and mend what could practically be mended, but some building repairs are delayed pending the outcome of the land classification and flood protection issues. Further rain caused the cancellation of a working bee last month.

The fair won’t be able to have the usual horse and pony section, which dominates the show entries each year, nor rodeo and sheep dog trials, but the shearing competition, one of the biggest A&P show shearing competitions nationwide, is expected to go ahead at a woolshed venue to be confirmed.

The fair itself will have food stalls, and other attractions are being planned, with inquiries welcomed from anyone who wants to help boost the event.

Wilson said among the considerations was that the post-cyclone land classification hasn’t been confirmed and community protection from the Wairoa River flooding, which caused most of the showgrounds’ devastation, is still in the planning.

The show, first held in 1899, is known for its weather extremes, from temperatures over 30C to the heavy rain that in 2010 and 2020 resulted in the shearing being transferred to woolsheds outside the town and all but caused the abandonment of the show, which, like most other A&P shows, had to endure cancellation in 2021 because of Covid-19.

Wairoa has also had to endure the loss of its other big family day out, the annual races, which have fallen victim to rationalisation in the racing industry.

They were last held at Te Kupenga Racecourse near Frasertown in 2019. Since then a Wairoa race day, including the Wairoa Cup, has been held in Hastings each year.

The East Coast Farming Expo first held at the showgrounds in April 2016 and held there annually ever since, had also struck weather issues (including cancellation this year when scheduled for a few days after the cyclone), and is scheduled to be held at the racecourse on February 21-22.

After a tough year, Little said Wairoa had been “robbed” of a summer last year by the weather, and “robbed” by the Government of its races.

“We need good days,” he said. “Give us some fine weather… and bring our races back.”