One of the South Island's biggest agricultural shows will go ahead next year, bucking the trend of widespread cancellations of A&P shows around the country.
Entertainment, at the Wanaka A&P Show, March 2021 Photo: Supplied/James Allan Photography
Organisers of the Wanaka A&P show have confirmed to RNZ that the show will return in March, despite a spate of show cancellations across the country in the past six months due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Gore was the latest show to be cancelled earlier this week, following the cancellation of the national A&P show in Canterbury at the beginning of November.
Wānaka event manager Jane Stalker said the show is a community event and a highlight on the town's calendar.
"Our show is a community show and it's really important for the community and so many people that we hold it. And we thought if we can put it on for them, then that's what we'll do."
It is run by the Upper Clutha A&P Society, which had it's first show on the Wanaka grounds in 1934, and has only missed two years since.
Amazingly, it has not been cancelled due to Covid-19, managing to put on the event before the pandemic began in 2020 and before the Delta outbreak earlier this year.
The Wānaka show is the second-largest in the South Island and in previous years, has drawn crowds of 40,000 over the two days.
Stalker said she wasn't sure if they would hit those numbers next year.
"We're kind of in that environment where we don't know what to expect when it comes to crowd numbers. We'd like to see lots of people there of course, but we do have to be safe."
She said their organisational team was optimistic the event can go ahead after holding the 2021 event with added Covid-19 measures.
"We will run sanitiser, masks and QR codes along with whatever else we need to do. It worked really, really well this year, so we are quite confident that we can go one better next year."
Walker said having a great team working on the project also reassured organisers the show could be pulled off in trying circumstances.
The 85th Wānaka A&P show is expected to go ahead from 11-12 March 2022.
People attending the show must be double vaccinated and hold a vaccine pass, in line with government guidelines.