Rain costs show ‘near $100,000’

Andrew Mathieson
THIS year’s Royal Geelong Show lost almost $100,000 after three days of rain washed away crowds, according to organisers.
Show chief Sharolyn Taylor warned entry prices might rise next year to cover the loss, while planned improvements at the showgrounds were now on hold.
The shortfall in gate takings combined with State Government’s abolition last year of a public holiday in Geelong for show day to hurt the historic event’s viability, she said.
“That (loss of a public holiday) alone hurt us by about $45,000, so this year it’s a lot worse.”
Ms Taylor said the show’s bottom line copped a “really big hit compared to other years” amid “torrential” rain.
Royal Geelong Agricultural and Pastoral Society had postponed its plans to building a new toilet block with showers and to rid the show of its muddy car parks.
The society was reluctant to put up entry prices, Ms Taylor said.
“We’re trying to keep the prices as low as we can. We worked out that the last wet show we had was in 1995 but obviously things have gone up a lot since then.”
Ms Taylor said thousands of potential patrons had stayed away despite the show expanding its schedule in recent years.
“Because it rained all day Friday we took a big loss at the gate that day. We had a great day on Thursday and Saturday was a fairly good day considering but it wasn’t near the numbers of last year.
“It rained basically until two o’clock and then Sunday it was drizzly in the morning, so we were down then slightly, too.”
Ms Taylor said the rain forced cancellation of entertainment in the main arena on Friday, with several “big trucks” unable to drive onto the arena’s surface.
Toyota Hilux Heroes stunt drivers completed two shows late Saturday “once the arena dried out”.
“They got bogged three times still,” Mrs Taylor said.
“(The conditions) cut down on what they could do and they couldn’t do any of their jumps or get up on two wheels.”
Mrs Taylor remained optimistic the show would return bigger and better next year to recover financially.
“We’re resilient. We’ve been here 155 years, so we’re certainly not going to roll over.”