The Outback Bakery Pie Eating Contest saw contestants attempt to down 4 pies as quickly as possible. Rocky Mewes second from the left creamed the field after a hard day’s shearing.

 

The 136th annual Community Bank Show was a fine affair with the quick shear proving to be another popular attraction with shearers flying in from all over the country and internationally to take part for their chance to win the $10,000 first prize.

It was a warm day and the show clashed with the boxing fans of the world including those of the Twin Towns for the Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson fight which was on that afternoon. However it still drew a good crowd.

Highlights included the Dachshund Dash, the dog high jump which had a number of categories and the new attraction which was the Outback Pie Eating Competition which was won by a NZ shearer called Rocky Mewes.

The pavilion was full of all sorts of artworks, crafts, cakes and produce from school children up to our most experienced members of the community.

 

 

One plus was the ticket which allowed all day access to the dodgem cars and the tea cups, which was great to see excellent value provided for the little ones.

The night was capped off with a great display of fireworks by Mr Boom Boom. The Harden Community Bank show will be in it’s 137th year next year and is run by a small number of committee members who worked tirelessly throughout the year to put the show together and they are always looking for more volunteers if you would like to get out and help your community and help grow the show contact president Andrew Jones on 0431 154 276.

The showgirl was won by Alice Lewis which appears in a separate story.

Andrew Jones said, “the event went pretty well and there seemed to be a lot of happy kids there, which is the main thing.

 

 

“I think as a committee we were pretty happy with the Ride Pass arrangement. It wasn’t about us making money, it was more about getting people through the gate and having an affordable day out and I think we managed to hit that on the head.

“There were a lot of happy kids and parents didn’t have to spend a fortune to entertain the kids all day.

“It’s hard to say how many people attended on the day because it’s so spread out and because of the hours that we had.

“We haven’t gone through the financials to work out the gate, but I think it would be higher than we’ve ever had.

“We are only a small committee of committed people that want to see the show succeed and to see that we are heading in the right direction, that’s always a plus. The older committee members are happy with the direction we are taking. We were all very pleased with it and probably relieved that it is over.

“It is a lot of work.

“There’s so much organisation in every different section. There’s stewards in each section that do their own thing to make it run that even I don’t get to see.

“You see the work that Sarah, my wife and the secretary, and for the last two or three months she’s been sorting out the schedules and tickets and then her, the kids and I cutting and doing all the envelopes and sending to all the members, chasing up sponsorship, sending out invoices – there’s a whole lot of stuff that people don’t realise. It probably does take more than 12 months to get the show going in.

“The show has only just finished and we have a meeting tonight that will pretty well kick us off again and go again next year where we can tidy up a few things and improve a few things and that is where every steward comes in and has their input to try and make it flow a lot better.

 

 

“There’s a monumental amount of work that people don’t see.

“People think it’s one day a year but because we don’t have a massive amount of people on our committee it falls on the shoulders of individuals and it’s a mountain of work.

“When the Show comes off like it did, it’s pretty relieving.

“Some of the key attractions were the quick shear and the woodchop. They are always pretty popular. The kids ride passes were also up there.

“There were a lot of people on the camels. That is something different that we’ve never had before.

“There was a lot of stuff there that we’ve never had. The Ringers Western truck had a steady flow of people going in and out of that all day.

“The fireworks were a highlight. It was a pretty good show.

“A big thanks to the committee and especially to Sarah and BJ Prosser. Without them we wouldn’t have a show.”

– Jack Murray