Hawke's Bay leading the way in new shows era

New Hawke's Bay A and P Society general manager Isabelle Crawshaw (left) and new show operations manager Rachel Lyons. Photo / Warren Buckland

Royal championship classes could still be held at the Hawke's Bay A & P Show this year in a post-pandemic lockdowns era aimed at reclaiming some of the glory of a history dating back almost 160 years.

While relinquishing the Royal Show title it held as New Zealand's premier A and P show between 2015 to 2019, new A and P Society general manager Isabelle Crawshaw says showing classes can apply for Royal status for their events during the October 19-21 edition at Showgrounds Hawke's Bay Tomoana, Hastings.

The Royal status is allocated by the New Zealand Royal Agricultural Society. Most A and P shows throughout the country were cancelled during the Covid pandemic and many societies that run them faced financial threats without the show income.

Crawshaw says shows that went ahead, were in limited form and often without the all-important paying public, bringing about wide-ranging reviews of the operation.

Coming in the week after the North Island A and P show season starts in Gisborne, and with its last day a public holiday tagged to the Labour Day weekend, the Hawke's Bay Show will be the first of the traditional four A and P shows in Hawke's Bay in the coming Spring and Summer.

The Central Hawke's Bay show will be held in Waipukurau on November 10-12, and early in the New Year the Wairoa show on January 19-21 and the Dannevirke show on February 3-5.

Amid the changes is a proposal for the sale of the showgrounds to the Hastings District Council to better secure the future for such events as the show and the Horse of the Year Show next March.

But with the Mahon's Amusements fairground now established on the Karamu and Kennilworth roads corner frontage, the most visible changes will be relocating the trade space at the show and creating the Kennilworth Rd railway-end as the main public carpark, aimed at improving access and minimising queues and traffic disruption, especially on Karamu Rd.

Learning from the experiences of the Covid-19 era, the society had to get into a position of guaranteeing full refunds for the thousands of entries in equestrian, animal and other classes in the event of the pandemic escalating again.

Crawshaw, originally from Wellington, has family ties to farming in Canterbury.
She married into a Hawke's Bay farming family and lives near Puketapu.

She assumed the role of general manager amid the departure of former Napier Art Deco Trust CEO Sally Jackson, the show's general manager for four years and now General Manager Residential Sales Hawkes Bay for Bayleys.

"The sections are going through processes to see if they want to run their events with Royal status," Crawshaw said.

The show saw week-long attendances peak at over 60,000 but average around 25,000 in recent years. Crawshaw says its future is about making sure the show stays relevant, recognising the presence of the animals is crucial to the educational experience.

Taking care of many of the show arrangements will be Rachel Lyons, who joined the society last week as show operations manager.