111th Taihape A&P Show flagged due to Covid-19

Masterton shearer Adam Gordon watched by spectators from the embankment at last January's Taihape show. The 2022 show has been cancelled because of the Covid-19 crisis. Photo / SSNZ

Two of Taihape's landmark events are among the latest to be cancelled due to ongoing Covid-19 concerns.

The 111th Taihape A&P Show and the town's famous Gumboot Day are the latest Covid casualties.

Historically held around Easter each year, the Gumboot Day became part of the A&P Show weekend for the first time in 2020.

It is supposed to be held on January 29 and is one of at least nine A&P shows to be cancelled throughout New Zealand in early 2022.

Taihape Community Development Trust projects and events co-ordinator Pania Winiata says the loss of the show and the internationally-known gumboot throwing championship is devastating for the small town.

The shearing and woolhandling championships have been regularly about the third-biggest in the North Island after the Golden Shears in Masterton and the New Zealand Shears in Te Kuiti, with 103 shearers and 42 woolhandlers last January.

Winiata said the show was an annual fundraiser for several volunteer organisations in the town.

She said she was hoping individual events from the show could still be held, even if at other times, or that new events may also emerge.

"All I can say is roll on 2022, with the implementation of the traffic light system I am looking forward to events happening again in our piece of paradise."