THE 104th Parklea Pakenham and District Agricultural and Horticultural Show will be held at the P. B. Ronald Reserve on Saturday 21 March.
The show, which is one of thne biggest events in the Cardinia shire, was recognised as the Event of the Year at the shire’s Australia Day celebrations in January this year.
Following the sale of the Pakenham Racecourse, where the show had been held for the previous 55 years, the show returned to the P. B. Ronald Reserve (formerly the recreation reserve) last year.
While the smaller grounds have restricted parts of the show’s former highlights (particularly some of the animal exhibitions), there have been many bonuses, which helped to bring record numbers to last year’s show.
Entry to the event will be free as it was in 2014.
The fact that entry was free and the show has returned to the centre of the Pakenham township meant that many families attended the show for the first time last year.
That number is expected to grow even bigger at the 2015 show.
This year Parklea has come ’on board’, and as major sponsor has naming rights to the show.
This generous sponsorship, coupled with the ongoing unstinted support from Cardinia Shire Council and many other great sponsors, has enabled the committee to put together a wonderful program of events that will interest all members of the family.
This year’s show will have two stages working in harmony – one at each end of the reserve – providing non-stop action.
The Living Learning Centre, which is on the western boundary of the reserve, will also be a bright and busy area all day. Here, there will be multicultural dancing and singing throughout the day. Seventy national flags will adorn the stage area and add to the colourful display.
Other highlights will include the Jumbo Farm Barn, with about 50 animals; the Wally Wombat Trail will once again be a highlight; there will be sheep shearing demonstrations, Meccano and Hornby train exhibitions, skateboard workshops, cake demonstrations, free henna painting, ferret racing competitions and lots more.
The Cardinia Civic Concert Band will once again be a vital part of the show program.
Recently introduced to the show program, the giant pumpkin and vegetable competitions will again attract enormous interest.
After an absence of some years, the alpacas will make a welcome return.
One of the features of the show will be the Reptile Encounters display. On show will be the jungle python, the angle headed dragons, green tree frogs, central netted dragons, bearded dragon, centralian rough knob-tailed geckos, Stimson’s python, spiny leaf stick insects and huge Goliath stick insects.
For their shows, this group will present crocodiles, pythons up to 3.5 metres, goannas, frill neck lizards, turtles, a parrot and even a fluffy marsupial (sugar glider or Ruffous Bettong).
Also, throughout the day, this group will bring out a host of animals for people to touch and hold.
With the theme at this year’s show being ’Anzac,’ the show will have the Casey-Cardinia Library hosting Marg Dennis (WWI activity) in the afternoon in the library (part of the hall complex).
The show committee has also invited the South Eastern Art Network (SECAN) to be involved in a one-day project to transform an old rusty shipping container into a tribute to the real ’workhorses’ of World War I.
The pavilion also has a kinder and primary school Anzac theme for the school art display, where the Pakenham RSL president, Mr Gary Elliott, will be presenting commemorative trophies on the day.
The Junior Personality competition will take front stage at 1pm. And this year extra prize money is on offer for the Iron Man/Woman/Junior event, dog high jump, gumboot throw and paper plane competitions.
A good number of goats and poultry are expected, and both these sections are very popular with the children.
This year the dog show will be held on Sunday 22 March and up to 1000 entries are expected.
Show president Geoff Young said this week that the committee had worked extremely hard over the past 12 months in planning for the 2015 show.
He also praised local people for their continued support for the show.
“In planning this year’s show, we have hopefully got back to the true meaning of the agricultural show in the local community.
“Also noticeable is the added interest in the show from multicultural groups, community groups and business groups.
“This is wonderful, and it helps us in our endeavours to make this annual event the premier attraction within Cardinia Shire,’’ Mr Young said.
The Pakenham and District Agricultural and Horticultural Society committee comprises a dedicated group of people of all ages.
New committee members are always welcome. If you would like to be involved or help with the preparations for the show, give president Geoff a call on 0413 708 774.
Note the date now (21 March) and bring the family along to the show. You’ll enjoy a wonderful day out – and entry is free.
