A & P Show: Country comes to town in Hastings

Charlotte Christensen with son Micah, 2, from Havelock North, getting to know a steer on the first day of the 160th anniversary Hawke's Bay A & P Show in Hastings on Wednesday. Photo / Paul Taylor

It looked like a slow start but the country’s annual coming to town has started with the 160th anniversary Hawke’s Bay A and P Show now underway at the Tomoana Showgrounds in Hastings.

The show started on Wednesday, the tradition of busy-busy from the moment the gates opened now a part of the history but with the signs of the ever-intriguing farm-life, such as horses, goats and sheep gradually starting to appear around the 42 hectares, which the show, dating back to an event held near Havelock North in 1863, has called home since 1925.

Kariss Peterson leads Chevy and riders Drezarn Hira (left), 4, and Tiara Ataahua from Hastings, around the pony ride circuit. Photo / Paul Taylor.

To keep the venue in public hands, and help ensure the viability of the iconic event, the showgrounds were sold by the Hawke’s Bay A and P Society to the Hastings District Council last year.

There’s a new focus on the horticulture sector, and active rural sports including equestrian events, the Great Raihania Shears shearing and woolhandling, which commemorate the world’s first machine-shearing held at the show in 1902, and the sheep dog trials, all culminating on Friday, and the farm-fencing championships.

Tractor attraction action as some of the show's most aged machinery is put to good use on the opening day. Photo / Paul Taylor.

The Hawke’s Bay is the first of four A and P shows in Hawke’s Bay each summer, with the Central Hawke’s Bay A and P Show in Waipukurau on November 10-11, the Wairoa A and P Show on January 19-20, and the Dannevirke A and P Show on February 3-4.