Another Show Cancelled

Pongaroa shearer David Buick clocks out at the end of the Central Hawke's Bay Open shearing final last year. It was the first win in a season which won him No 1 ranking in the top grade nationwide. This year the show has become one of the latest casualties of cancellation caused by the global pandemic. Photo / SSNZ

Another show bits the dust

The 2021 Central Hawke’s Bay A and P Show has been cancelled, completing a rout of all five pre-Christmas shows in the eastern and lower North Island region.

The show was to have been held in Waipukurau on November 11-13 but president and long-time shearing and woolhandling competition convenor David Poulton said the decision to cancel was made at a meeting last night because of the continuing uncertainty, with just five weeks to go, of what sort of show could take place amid the Covid-19 crisis.

While the safety factors were the ultimate consideration, the financial factors were coming into play with the increasing likelihood that if the show went ahead it would be without public admission, losing the gate income crucial to avoid running at a loss and risking viability of the organisation and the future of the show.

Previously cancelled were the Poverty Bay, Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa and Manawatu shows. The Wairarapa and Manawatu shows were also cancelled last year.

All have had long-standing annual shearing and woolhandling championships and their cancellation means that along with the cancellation of the Golden Shears last March the 14-show North Island Woolhandling Circuit has lost six of its seven rounds on full-wool sheep.

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