We're in the middle of the spring school holiday break here. This is usually two weeks of pretty pleasant warm spring weather and as such there are a variety of outdoor activities going on like camping holidays, visits to various amusements and then there's the big one - the Perth Royal Agricultural Show. The Show as it's generally called is an agricultural showcase when the farm comes to the city (among other delights there's a daily grand parade in the show ring of the various animals at the show grounds for judging) along with crafts, cooking displays and competitions to mention only a few of the many delights on show while many businesses - some with very few links to farming - take the opportunity to show off their wares and charities have displays like the Baby Animal Nursery with a small entry fee to raise money. There's all the fun of the fair, too, with goodies like"sample" bags which are anything but that these days and are instead expensive bags of confectionary and/or assorted rubbishy items which will fall apart in days - they were once filled with samples of goods, mostly foodstuff, that the manufacturers hoped would entice you into buying for real once the show was over.
Nostalgia for the old fashioned Show sample bag got me wandering even further down into the delights of shows of yesteryear which were far less slick than they seem to be these days. It's a long time since I've actually visited the Show because it's more of a thing for young families and we're long past that but I'm enjoying the memories including those of where I grew up in an outer city semi rural area. Directly across the street lived two brothers and their families. They were show people, who every year went on a circuit of agricultural shows around the country with their huge trucks carting tents, rides and all the paraphernalia needed to support them during the circuit. Their descendants had still kept this up until COVID last year brought everything to a halt. I wonder if such such businesses will survive. I certainly hope so.
These folk were regulars in Sideshow Alley where you could ride the ferris wheel, the Wild Mouse, the ghost train and any number of other such rides and waste your money trying to win tacky prizes by dropping balls into clown heads or having a go at the shooting gallery. While our neighbours ran shows of the more innocent kind - they specialised in rides - back in the day there were other weird and wonderful sights in Side Show Alley - the amazing half woman half man according to the posters outside but who was I was told by someone who paid to venture in a woman dressed one side in women's clothes and on the other in men's, the bearded lady, a strip show where women would dance briefly and remove very little much to the disappointment of the mainly very young men who went in. There would be a couple of young women in flimsy garments gyrating next to the spruiker to entice the punters, the fact that they looked bored out of their minds apparently not putting off the young and gullible. There was always a boxing tent where even more foolish young men would take on and invariably be beaten by the professional boxers in the troop. It's a good thing these days have passed in my opinion.
My parents who thought such things were a waste of money - they were right - would never allow us to go into even any of the more innocent tents but we could spend our saved up pocket money on one ride if we wanted. Apart from one memorable time when we discovered that a large serve of fairy floss (known as cotton candy elsewhere I believe) plus soft drink and a very mixed diet of sample foods handed out by many of the displays did not go well with a ride that flung you around in dizzying circles, as well as being somewhat frugal, my brothers and I would opt for spending our money on the sample food bags over a ride any time.
As my mother came from a farming family we'd always visit the animal pens, wandering by and marvelling at huge horses, bulls with rings through their noses and goats and sheep which washed and primped looked very different from those we knew from family farm visits. We'd even trail our way by the poultry exhibit where the more exotic birds were very different from those at home in our backyard. The owners of the animals would bunk down next to the exhibits overnight and for many country folk it was as much a social event as anything else.
A visit to the Show was always a day long affair as we wandered around first one half of the exhibits then the other with a break for a brought from home sandwich lunch near the show ring. My parents considered the hot dogs and hamburgers far too expensive and unhealthy but we would finish lunch with an ice cream that came in a small cardboard bucket with a tiny flat wooden spoon. As I remember the spoon gave a slightly different taste to the ice cream but it didn't stop us enjoying it.
Mum was particularly interested in the sewing and other crafts so after lunch we'd straggle off to those pavilions, making our way first past the baked goods where participants vied to make the perfect sponge, scone or fruit cake within very specialised rules. Then it was through the sewing and other craft pavilions before going on to the flowers.
By the time we'd made our way through these everyone was pretty much exhausted but by our parents' good planning there we were back at the show ring just in time to sit and watch the Grand Parade followed by the sheep dog trials. I'm not sure why these are so fascinating to watch but they certainly got us in. Actually it still is amazing to watch a highly trained dog work a mob of sheep. It's very much an instinctive behaviour for some kinds of dogs. Writing this I remembered a kelpie cross we had many years ago that would round up the hens if they got out and neatly return them to their yard.
There was always night time entertainment but we never got to see much of it. We were done and ready to leave as soon as the fireworks display, which started once the sun went down, was over. I mentioned that my brothers and I were somewhat frugal, didn't I, and this meant we rationed out the contents of our sample bags to last for days. Because my mother was an excellent baker we never got to eat "shop" biscuits at home so especially popular were the sample packets of Mills & Wares biscuits when we could try these luxuries. Some years these that came in a neat little miniature suitcase and this was as popular as the biscuits. After a few weeks all the goodies would be gone and the rubbishy toys that came in some bags would be broken but the memories would linger and the next year it would all be just as exciting.
