Wild Wonders Themed Show Delivers Wild Wonders

The Committee of The Bridgetown Agricultural Society wishes to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Greater Bridgetown-Greenbushes community for supporting us at this year’s show. We put our heart and souls into producing our annual show and it was quite disheartening to hear the first signs of a storm at 3am on Saturday.

It is the kind of show day that will go into our history books, the kind we will speak of for years. The show day that was plagued by power cuts, when the opening ceremony and half of the speeches were done through a megaphone. The heart-breaking decision to call off the horse events and Sheaf Toss, the loss of 3 marquees before we even opened the gates. The year hail rained down on us and the hilarious scene of an entire bar crowd trying to squeeze under the rotunda. The Lion’s van selling out of just about everything and the inevitable safety call from the sideshow rides that they had done their best but it was simply too dangerous to continue running (large pieces of metal and lightning don’t mix well).

Although the sun finally came out and we thought we were through it, the weather turned for a second time and the early evening downpour and hail saw a mass exit from the grounds and the words “When do we call it” started to be said.

At about 6:30pm we received a call from the fireworks boss asking if we were going ahead. “Some of the fireworks have been damaged and the weather is less than favourable; how many people are still there? Will they return for the fireworks?”

All available committee members huddled in the secretary’s office and weighed up the options. Looking at all the different weather sites and all the radars, we made the decision to go ahead, confident people would return for the fireworks.

The sky cleared, the storm passed and as we waited for the fireworks to begin from our various locations around the grounds our hearts burst with appreciation that the seating was filled, the cars were lined up, and the community had returned to see the grand finale of one of our most memorable shows on record.

To our hard-working volunteers and exhibitors that showed up for us, the stall holders, food vendors and community groups that stuck it out – you are all amazing. To the huge number of community members who not only came through the gates but made a point of speaking with committee members and congratulating us on a great show when we were doing our best to keep a brave face, we thank you.

We have always stuck by the motto that the Bridgetown Show is a community event for the community and gosh that’s exactly how it felt.

When we say rain, hail or shine we say it in jest but our 136th Bridgetown Agricultural Show it was rain, hail and shine.