Making it easier and a great success this year were a larger allocation of space for an open air grass ring, and of course perfect weather on the day. No wind; that’s right, no wind.

One hundred and twenty five entries made the show a comfortable size for our site, and give judge Dominic Lane enough to do without being under too much pressure. He spent time thoroughly checking the animals presented to him, and his reasons for his judgments were clear and precise.

Our exhibitors came from as far north as Queensland, with further support from member studs on the New England plateau and the mid north coast. It was great to see new exhibitors, and I hope that you all enjoyed yourselves and found the experience to be well worthwhile.

Of course the show owed much of its success to a full complement of sponsorships from a variety of sources, and I’d like to thank them all for their support. Evelyn, as MC, did a wonderful job throughout the day, and gave all our sponsors a plug at various times. I hope that they in turn receive support so that next year they’ll be happy to help out again. Pat and Charlie Mashman and Dennis and Denise Burden kindly donated scarves as championship prizes and gift vouchers for reserve championship. A special thank you to them for their generous support.

Further funds were raised by a silent stud auction. Males came from studs within our area, and two were from other regions, Elyssion Stud from the southern region and Alpacandes from Hawkesbury region. The generosity of all donors was greatly appreciated, and we raised approximately $3,000 from the auction. (Francis, can you check this figure for me please.)

The marquee went up on Tuesday, and on Thursday a group of 8 or 10 people arrived to help set up the pens. This was done easily within the day, and when it came to dismantling them our exhibitors removed and cleaned the bulk of the pens themselves. Thank you to everyone who helped.

On Sunday Martin Twynam provided display animals and gave informational talks to visitors. This, together with the logo I painted on the ring, further promoted the AAA and alpacas to the general public.

There is an enormous amount of work in organizing and running a display and show over four or five days, and maybe it is time to separate these events, enabling us to concentrate on developing and expanding the show, possibly at a different site.

The old saying “many hands make light work” is definitely true in this case. So thanks to all of you who helped out.

Rick Hodgson