JAMES Harris said he was “blown away” by the number of people who drove up several hours to go to Stroud Show.
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“We have a really good Facebook page and we promote the annual event strongly online,” the Stroud Show president said.
“But it still amazes me that people would want to drive all that way just to come to our show.
“They came from Sydney, Port Stephens, Forster, Maitland and Newcastle.
“This year’s (show) would have had to been the biggest we’ve had and the gate takings were the second highest we’ve ever had.
“By Saturday night we had 4000 people on the ground which is astounding for a town of only 700 people.”
Last year there were only four head of fat cattle, but this year saw 25 front up to be judged.
The produce pavilions were overflowing with pumpkins, grammas and squash, with stewards forced to find extra display space on the floor.
For the first time wife-carrying championships were held, with Singleton Show committee members helping with the organisation.
“There were 10 male-female teams who competed and it was a Stroud couple who won,” Mr Harris said.
“They will now go to Singleton Show for the national competition in September with the winner there to go onto Finland for the world event.
“The ride-on lawnmower demonstrations were fantastic and the crowd loved them.
“Saturday was a lovely day, not too hot and the rain earlier in the week just settled the dust.
“The Mason Rack Band kept the crowd entertained well into the night which turned out to be quite mild.”
Mr Harris said the success of the show was testament to the hard work put in by committee members.
“We run a bloody good show and we have a great committee who work very hard through the year to make sure it is going to run smoothly,” he said.
“Sandra Shoebridge is our ringmaster and there was something on in the ring from 7am until dark.
“We promote the show as being for families and we made sure there was plenty happening for the children.
“I don’t believe we could have run a better show if we tried and it all comes down to the great committee who put their heart and soul into the event every year.”