Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1950 A RECORD SHOW

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 4, 1 March 1950, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1950

A RECORD SHOW

XJL UIIV I» All who had any sort' of a hand in the organising of Saturday’s record A. and P. Show deserve the thanks and congratulations of the public. Judges and competitors from outside districts, who are in a position to know, by comparison, just what a grand effort it was expressed themselves as truly amazed at the number of entries and the efficiency of the organisation. A tremendous amount of hard work was done in preparing for the show, and all the officials, particularly the secretary and his staff, came through a gruelling day* on Saturday with honours.

Public patronage indicates that the A. and P. Society will be fully justified in giving ous consideration to the running of a two-day show next year, j That such a move would be j more than justified was an opin- | ion freely expressed by visitors from other districts, who compared this fixture favourably with ones held in much larger centres and unhesitatingly labelled it the best effort in the Bay | of Plenty. j Actually, there was so much to see that it would have been Virtually impossible for anyone' who wanted to do the complete j round to spare more than a few minutes on each section. Indication of the magnitude of the task the*' organisers had was the grand parade. There was so much to be paraded that the ring space proved quite inadequate. With the amalgamation of the Winter Show Association and the A. and P. Society a definite possibility, there seems no reason why Whakatane’s showground should not, in time, compare favourably with that of any provincial town in New Zealand. Certainly there is plenty j of scope, and the larger and j more ' convenient buildings the , proposed amalgamation would' probably bring should be a tre- j mendous help. } Side show men have always j placed a lot of faith in Whaka- ! tane, and this year they were here in force, with some shows that are usually not seen outside much larger towns. They, at least, regard Whakatane as an important provincial centre, and that is certainly what it is des- ' tined to be.

If a two-day show were decided upon for next year, it would probably follow the pattern of other two-day fixtures, where the first day is devoted largely to the serious business of judging exhibits and the second day is “people’s day”, the day on which everyone sets out to enjoy all the fun of the fair, with the most spectacular of the ring events for added interest. In such case, the first day would be a business day—and no doubt a bumper one—and the second day a public holiday.

Between now and next show, the Society’s executive will have to do a lot of serious planning to make the best possible use of the space available, because it seems absolutely certain that trade exhibitors, who were more numerous and had bigger displays than ever before this year, will be clamouring for still more space. Successful side shows, too, will spread the glad tidings, and it is safe betting that the demand from that quarter will also step up. However, one need not emphasise the problems of the future at this stage. Suffice it to say that those problems are the problems brought in the wake of outstanding success, not the dismal problems of mediocrity or failure.