Cancellation of Royal Show impacts Adelaide Showgrounds

Unable to stage the annual Royal Adelaide Show which was to have commenced this week - the Adelaide Showgrounds are hoping to host a series of smaller events to make up for the second successive cancellation of South Australia’s longest running and largest community event.

Among events in the venue’s calendar between October and December are The Home Show, Animal Expo, Science Alive!, SA Boating & Fishing Show and 4WD & Adventure Show and Adelaide Auto Expo.

Adelaide Showgrounds General Manager Grant Piggott said the advice from SA Health indicated that events up to 5,000 people are within the accepted health guidelines.

Piggott told Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser “for those events to go through OK we need the world to stay as good or better than it currently is.

“The concern will be if there’s infection in the state and we go backwards.”

The Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of SA was forced to cancel the 2021 Royal Adelaide Show - scheduled to have run from 4th to 12th September 2021 - saying a SA Health decision to cap crowds at 10,000 people made it untenable.

Society Chief Executive John Rothwell said the financial hole left by the Show’s cancellation is “massive”, telling The Advertiser “the fallout from closing The Show is massive in terms of time, follow-ups and dealing with customers.

Royal Adelaide Show General Manager Michelle Hocking said attempts would be made to replicate the spirit of the show with five days of online events.

Image: The Wayville Showgrounds, home of the Royal Adelaide Show. Credit: Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of SA.