The Cobargo Show is one of the Far South Coast's most popular but its band of hard-working volunteers perhaps love it the most.
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Several of them have worked behind the scenes for decades getting the showground ready, sprucing things up with a fresh lick of paint and steadily upgrading the infrastructure as the show continues to grow.
Hands on deck for months
Retired dairy farmer Ron Cole has been volunteering for the show for "close to 50 years" and has been mulching the showground and cutting grass for the last three to four months so it will be beautiful when the gates open on Friday, February 9.
He has been Chief Pavilion Steward for 40 years.
Greg Holland, a "recent" recruit who has been volunteering at the show for 30 years, said when Ron is not working in the Pavilion during the show he is cooking on the barbecue with his mate Bill, another retired dairy farmer.
As a retired builder, Greg mainly helps out with most aspects of the preparation.
A real team effort
In the past he organised working bees "but we are sharing the load more now".
"We are getting more and more people pitching in, with quite a number of young fellas very tied to the rodeo and kids using the ride-on-mowers as well," Greg said.
Show committee vice president June Tarlinton will be on the microphone all day with the horses on Saturday, February 10, and she and husband Richard will be involved with the chainsaw and axe events on Sunday.
Some eight days before the gates open men ranging in age from their 20s to old hands like Will Mead were feverishly making new horse yards and more seating to accommodate the ever-growing crowd of show entrants and spectators.
There is no hierarchy.
June was on site, sleeves rolled up.
So were show committee president Dan Allen, who has been instrumental in bringing young blood into the show's membership, and junior vice president and Cobargo Hotel licensee Dave Allen, who was helping cut grass.
Camaraderie and keeping the show alive
Will Mead, another volunteer for more than 30 years, said the number of volunteers is why the show is thriving and makes it something Cobargo can be proud of.
Ron volunteers because he loves the camaraderie of working with all the others.
For Greg volunteering at the show works both ways.
"You are contributing something to the community but also taking away a little bit by belonging to an organisation that is doing well and we are working together.
"We are relying on one another to get this show over the line in eight days' time."
As a kid Dave exhibited things in the Pavilion and helped his father, a dairy farmer, with the cows.
"I have good memories of the show as a kid.
"Social capital and the volunteering ethos aren't what they were so if you can volunteer and give up your time it is important to keep these things alive."
