Bonnie Giles with the Sydney WH Jones Memorial Trophy for the most successful junior and sub-junior exhibitor of garden produce at the Candelo Show.
Drummer with the Queanbeyan Pipe and Drum Band Ben Hall and dog Ash.
Nicole Lambert and Anne Verrent attract a lot of attention in their period costume.
Champion cow of the show, Ferncliff Whiskey Golden Girl, with judge Steven Salway and exhibitor Sam Holmes.
Brian Mallyon with the mike encourages this valiant effort in the dog high jump.
Katrina Rickards and Elena Jephson cuddle dogs at the animal nursery.
Gerard Heffernan and Rod Russell-Brown of Fir Croi entertain the crowd.
Kate Clarke with her champion doe kid, Ilke Terrana.
Scott Reeve, Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro Peter Hendy and Wayne Brown at the Liberal marquee.
Julie Schofield, official opener of the Candelo Show with show president Charles Day.
VIBRANT and thriving was how Agricultural Societies NSW treasurer Julie Schofield described the Candelo Show on Sunday - and the people who flocked there agreed.
Candelo AD&HF president Charles Day praised his committee, the stewards and the many volunteers in making the 126th show a memorable one.
“There has been a terrific crowd, and so many of them have come from far away, but they have been enjoying themselves thoroughly,” Mr Day said.
“There’s been a good standard of exhibits across the board even in the fruit, flowers and vegetables despite the awful weather we have had.
“There has been fantastic junior participation in both the pavilion and the events.
“The quality of the goats, beef, dairy cattle and poultry has been good.
“I’ve had such a good team and their efforts have been wonderful.
“Before the show, Graham Worthington mowed and slashed the entire ground,” Mr Day said.
Pavilion steward John Coman said there were 11,000 exhibits, which was down on last year because of the fruit, vegetables and flowers, but exhibits from young people was up.
“Great community participation,” Mr Coman said.
Officially opening the show, Ms Schofield said she had been involved with shows since her childhood, but it wasn’t until she was runner-up in the Miss Showgirl competition in Sydney in 2002 that she became involved with Agricultural Societies NSW.
She was the youngest member of ASC for many years and was asked to speak on youth show involvement at a Canadian conference.
“The key to the success of a show society moving forward is combining the young enthusiastic youth and the older more passionate members,” Ms Schofield said.
Champion cow of the show was Ferncliff Whiskey Golden Girl exhibited by Sam Holmes.
Thelma Wheatley’s Wattle Farm Marlow won the grand champion dairy goat and Ray Ubrihien the bird of the show in poultry.
Candelo Show has many pavilion trophies to award, many of them memorial trophies, and they are presented by the president in the afternoon.
This year, Beryl Cooper won the Ned Watson Memorial for best exhibit vegetables and Michael Heffernan the Gerard Schuback Memorial for best exhibit farm produce and the Ted Went Memorial for the most successful exhibitor.
Roxanne Hopkins won the Alex Lucas Memorial for the most successful exhibitor fruit and Kim Falkenmire and Margaret Heffernan the Open Art Chomas prize.
The Sydney WH Jones Memorial for the most successful junior and sub-junior garden produce was won by Bonnie Giles, and the Dick Wiley trophy for most successful exhibitor in the open section was won by Patricia O’Callaghan.
The Eileen Targett trophy for most successful exhibitor 10-16 years was won by Renee Worthington, and the Val West Memorial trophy for most successful exhibitor nine years and under was won by Sam Lever.
Judy Winters won the Heather Collins Memorial trophy for best gladiolus.
As usual, the dog high jump with Brian Mallyon and Brett Rogers in charge was a huge crowd pleaser, but the chook washing demonstration was also an attraction.
There was plenty to do and see at the Candelo Show, especially for families with young children, and, as one showgoer remarked, “this is a true country show”.