The Royal Easter Show 2008 has come and gone with some mixed results - the crowds were down, mostly due to not having any school holidays during the show period.

However, the crowds that did not come were the amusement riders, so while the attendance was down around 10 percent some rides, games, and show bags were down more.

While the extreme rides managed to hold their own, these riders don’t have the commitments that families do, another telling factor is how much credit card and EFT use has risen recently.

There were several unsavoury incidents and police showed their concern regarding these incidents.

Security is obviously a worry at large events. Private security is doing the best it can and police numbers appear to be, in some instances, inadequate. However these are issues facing our industry now, and they are also a significant cost to promoters when staging an event. Anyone who comes to a public event carrying a large knife and a steel ‘night stick’ is not interested in having a good time but only interested in causing carnage. It would be a sad day in this wonderful country if it were to come to the stage where every one had to pass through metal detectors to attend an event.

The several different show runs are well underway. Hawkesbury was, as always, an impressive event with the best machinery and and wide ranging commercial displays. The crowds flocked to the show over three days, and it was a spurt of confidence to see large crowds spending and riding, providing a great example that other shows would do well to follow.

The North Coast of NSW has its run of shows on at present, and most have been severely knocked around due the persistent rains in that part of the country. Coffs Harbour Show was cancelled one month ago.

There seems to be some unusual actions underway by the State Govt with an administrator being appointed to several show grounds. Unfortunately these showgrounds have a strategic location very near the centre of town. The rural newspaper The Land recently had a good report on this situation. It highlighted several relevant towns, and pointed out the strong value that the showgrounds bring to each town. This is especially so as they provide the venue to run numerous events, which in turn not only bring in good revenues to the town, but also provide considerable social fabric value to each rural town.

Toowoomba Royal Show is over, and most operators have reported a disappointing result from such a large strong town. Toowoomba Show ground is a great venue and it should be a much better show.

The price of diesel continues its upward spiral. This is a very major concern for our industry and there does not seem to be any relief in sight.

The AALARA conference is just around the corner, and the ‘Transportable Breakout session’ is shaping up to be very interesting. We look forward to seeing you there to help deal with some important topics and concerns that are facing our industry today.

Phil Durkin

Chair Transportables