FRIDAY AND SATURDAY,
MARCH 7 & 8, 2014
Woolorama wrapped up for 2013
How does one measure a good show? There can be a lot of criteria – attendance, exhibiter numbers, lack of incidents, sponsorship, feedback and so on.
19,500 people attended the SmokeFree WA Wagin Woolorama of 2013. This is the first time in its 41 year history that Woolorama has given naming rights to a sponsor. It presented administrative hoops for us to jump through but the Society was happy to promote the strong health message to patrons.
For the first time this year, and for every fourth year in the future, Woolorama will co-incide with the state election. Good dialogue and planning with the WA Electoral Commission ensured that voting was hassle free. A shed was given a face lift and made into a dedicated polling station that was open on both Friday and Saturday. For obvious reasons a sports star, not a politician, was invited to open the show. Ashleigh Nelson, our home-grown Hockey-roo, Olympic competitor and Commonwealth gold medallist, was a great choice, talking of her memories of Woolorama as a child and is still an enthusiast.
Sponsorship was sourced from DAFF for free entry to the show for children. It’s hard to quantify the impact of this but it has to make a positive difference. An Agriculture Discovery Trail, pitched at children, was a great new initiative but was not well supported - leaving room for improvement next year. In total about $85,000 income was from sponsorship.
New features for the year included the admission of poultry in competition after an absence of almost 40 years. The support was strong and set to become a fixture. Three championship dog shows were conducted on Saturday and Sunday. The limiting factor here is their need of space and our lack of it as the grounds are already quite full.
The show comprises of 26 areas of competition and for the statistically minded the statistics are given as a footnote to this report. In summary we had 1798 entrants providing 3843 entries. 368 Trade fair exhibitors put on a great display to the public of their merchandise and services.
The weather was kind and the show relatively incident-free. There is room for improvement in the area of security. And too many cars were parked, against instructions, wherever the driver pleased. We offer camping space on the grounds as accommodation is a limiting factor to the show’s growth. An estimated 1000 people camped on site on Thursday and Friday nights, a significant number by any reckoning.
So, returning to the original question, “How does one measure a good show?”, a factor has to be the “feelings” of those most closely involved. Indeed there was something deeply satisfying about the show from the point of view of the Committee and staff. More than 50 showed up at the Sunday morning clean-up. And throughout the show we gave recognition of the 10 “young ones” (the definition being under 35 years old) which comprise 30% of those actively involved in putting on the show. This augers well for the future. In summary then, the show was a good one – celebrating and showcasing our region’s agriculture …. and we had a lot of fun in the process. - Wendy Pederick
