Northern ag show cancelled for 2021

THE Launceston Royal Show is the latest to be cancelled, with organisers saying Covid restrictions on capacity would have prevented them putting on the “positive show” they would’ve liked to have.

It’s the second consecutive year the show – which has been running since 1873 – has been cancelled.

Launceston Royal Show president Dale Beams said it was a disappointing decision.

“We felt it wasn’t fair to exhibitors, vendors and sponsors that we couldn’t get a bigger number than 5000 to the show.”

“They weren’t going to get value for their time, it wasn’t going to be enough to make things viable, and we couldn’t see it being a positive show.”

He said they had been hoping to able to allow 8000 people to attend.

Mr Beams said previous shows had drawn crowds of a similar size.

Organisers of the Hobart Royal Show are so far pushing forward with the plan to hold their show in late October with a daily cap of 5000 attendees.

Community Services and Development Minister Jeremy Rockliff said this year’s Hobart Show would benefit from a grant of $50,000 to Tasmanian shows for hygiene and patron management.