Royal Adelaide Show facing event with smaller crowds and fewer carnival rides

Planning for the 2020 Royal Adelaide Show in September, organisers are facing having to put a daily cap on crowd numbers while the crisis impacting carnival ride operators will likely see fewer amusement rides in the event’s Sideshow Alley.

With the Show having been cancelled due to the Coronavirus last year, organisers are following the lead of the Sydney Royal Easter Show in planning to manage crowds and ensure social distancing.

As reported by InDaily organisers say they are currently working with SA Health to deliver a COVIDSafe event from 4th to 12th September.

With the event normally attracting up to 500,000 people each year, with between 50,000 to 80,000 people attending each day, a Royal Adelaide Show spokesperson told InDaily “our objective is to bring back the fun and excitement of the Show for the South Australian community, working closely with SA Health for a COVIDSafe event.”

This is likely to include wider aisles to allow social distancing, increased spacing between stalls and rides, traffic control in enclosed areas and increased hygiene measures.

Organisers say they are also considering making it mandatory for patrons to purchase tickets in advance for specific days and to impose an overall cap on how many tickets can be sold each day.

Carnival rides at the Show may well not just be more widely spaced but far fewer in number as an increasing number of rides may not be present due to a failure to secure insurance.

The ongoing difficulties that many show, attraction and ride operators are facing in securing public liability insurance is forcing many to cease operating.

With insurance hard to secure significant class 4 and 5 rides were absent from the Sydney Royal Easter Show, a situation likely to be repeated in Adelaide.

Adelaide’s Sunday Mail revealed last week that the industry, which employs more than 4000 people nationwide, is facing shutdown following the last insurers left the Australian market.

However, Show organisers were confident this September’s event would have the same number and diversity of rides as previous years, while acknowledging there “could be a problem in 2022”.

Showmen’s Guild of SA Secretary Phillip Hamilton said South Australia’s 20 or so ride and sideshow operators were bracing to be left high and dry over the coming year, as underwriters stopped offering public liability insurance to their businesses.

The Australian Amusement, Leisure and Recreation Association is currently seeking to create an industry Discretionary Mutual Fund to underwrite part of their insurance.