Ban puts this year’s city show in doubt

THERE are fears the Heritage Bank Toowoomba Royal Show could be cancelled after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a ban on events attracting more than 500 people from Monday, in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The show was meant to start on March 26, but Royal Agriculture Society of Queensland CEO Damon Phillips said things were now up in the air.

“Over the weekend I’m sure a lot of conversations will be going on to find out what that bans actually means, whether it’s a suggestion or actually law,” Mr Phillips said.

“If those guidelines are enforced from Monday, the show will be cancelled.

“As for our competitions, a lot of those don’t have a lot of people involved so we’d like to keep as many of those going as possible, it will just mean no rides or public events.

“It’s certainly escalated very quickly over the last couple of days. We launched the show on Tuesday and three days later, it’s all up in the air.”

Mr Phillips said it would be devastating financially if the show was cancelled, not just for the show society but for the vendors.

“This will be very difficult financially as we’ve spent a lot of money already,” he said.

“You get hire companies whose only business is events.

“They’ll be laying off staff by Monday, and this could send them broke for sure.”

The Empire Theatre issued a statement saying performances would be assessed on a case-by-case basis. At this stage, no shows are cancelled and ticket buyers will be contacted in coming days.