The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Blow as Black Isle Show is called off
H showsopes of a return to a summer jampacked full of agricultural are dwindling with news the biggest show in the north of Scotland has been cancelled.
The Black Isle Show, which usually attracts around 25,000 visitors, has been cancelled for the second year in a row due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The show had been scheduled to take place on August 5, however its organisers – the Black Isle Farmers’ Society – say the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic means this year’s event will not go ahead.
“There had been a degree of optimism that the 2021 show may have been able to run, when the vaccination became available, but now being in a second lockdown the optimism has dwindled away,” said society president, Freida Mackenzie.
“Since we cannot guarantee the safety of our exhibitors, judges, tradestand holders, volunteers and the general public it is the correct decision to make. To invite a large gathering of people into the local community at this time is a risk too far.”
She said the society will now focus its efforts on planning next year’s show, which is due to take place on August 4 2022.
News of the Black Isle Show’s cancellation follows the cancellation of two
other major agricultural events this week.
First, the Scottish branch of the National Sheep Association (NSA) confirmed its Scotsheep event, which had been due to take place on May 27, will now take place on June 1 2022.
NSA Scotland chairman Jennifer Craig said ongoing Covid-19 restrictions and rising case numbers meant the event, which is being staged at Robert and Hazel Mcnee’s Over Finlarg Farm at Tealing, near Dundee, cannot go ahead.
Organisers of the largest agricultural event in the UK – the Royal Welsh Show – also confirmed their 2021 event had been cancelled.
The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society said the show, which was due to take place in Llanelwedd, Powys on July 19-22, will not go ahead because it believes restrictions on large gatherings are likely to continue into the summer.
Meanwhile, organisers of Scotland’s largest agricultural event – the Royal Highland Show – say they are “leaving no stone unturned” in their ambitions to hold an event in June.
The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS), which organises the event, is due to make a decision on whether or not it will go ahead in March. The event is scheduled to take place at Ingliston, near Edinburgh, on June 17-21.