It’s showtime! So bring on the farmersandpoets
IT’S getting close to that time again.
No, not Christmas, but that other big marker in the farming year – which seems to come round ever faster each year.
I’m talking about the Highland Show, of course, Scotland’s largest festival of farming which takes place at the Ingliston showground, this Thursday to Sunday.
Now it might just be coincidence that the show takes place bang in the middle of the year, close to the longest day and around six months after – or before – Christmas. But it’s certainly an important few days in the calendar for many folk involved in farming.
The show must be doing something right for each year it gets close to 200,000 people through its gates over the course of its run.
I would guess the Thursday and Friday are considered the “business” days by the machinery salesmen who man the stands and stalls – for despite the fact it’s pretty unlikely they’ll actually sell many tractors or implements on the day, they usually manage to get an idea of what customers might be thinking of investing in over the next 12 months.
And, to a good salesman, a wee note in the pocket book can sometimes lead to an order later in the year.
The Saturday and Sunday tend to be the family days – with country folk being joined by lots of people from towns and cities who like to make the most of the chance to have a good day out.
For, as well as the business side, there’s great entertainment at the show – with all the attractions of the livestock, the food halls and the machinery lines well supplemented by a supporting cast of bands, cooking demonstrations and challenges, main ring displays and the opportunity for plenty of retail therapy. There’s even a poet in residence at the show this year.
And there’s also the countryside area where working animals, from gundogs to ferrets, can be seen demonstrating their skills, while huge eagles and vultures stretch their enormous wings in an impressive flying display over the showground – and a bushcraft expert will tell you how to live off the fruits of the land.
But, when all’s said and done, while the razzmatazz, the gleaming tractors, combines and other machines and the carefully primped and preened livestock all have their attractions, for a lot of the farming community it’s as much the chance to meet up with folk they haven’t seen since last year’s show that brings them to the event.
See you there!