This weekend Horsham Agricultural Society Show will celebrate 140 years and Horsham Historical Society and Horsham Show committee have put together memories of past shows on DVDs to be screened in the Maydale Pavilion on Sunday.
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Film taken by former Mail-Times cameraman, Ian Ward, on Super8 sound film of the centenary show in 1978 will also be shown, as well as more recent video and a compilation of photos over the years.
Post-war memories of the Horsham Show are Jimmy Sharman's boxing tent with its spruiker asking for a local bloke to challenge their champion, Vanessa the Undresser, the swan merry-go-round and the shooting gallery with the not-so-sitting ducks.
There were also many anomalies such as the bearded lady, the half man-half woman, the lamb with five legs and let’s not forget eating fairy floss.
Memories of the coronation year, 1953, are the ‘night cart’ horses that went backwards as the weight of the cart on the steep sloping river bank pulled them and the cart into the river.
One horse drowned but the other was rescued.
There were family picnics in the showgrounds when cars were parked inside, farm machinery, rides on a wheat bag down from the top of a Helter Skelter slide and grandmother giving ten shillings for rides in sideshow alley.
At the time, a Ferris wheel would be the biggest ride.
In the 1950s motorcycle-engined TQs or midgets raced around the oval.
Who could forget when the show came to a stop in the 1970s with an overloaded electricity supply?
A substation was built on the grounds in 1976 to cope with the demand.
In the 1980s, the Go Kart club had a ‘demonstration run’ around the trotting track with hotted-up modified Victa lawn mower-engined karts racing around the oval at up to 80km/h throwing gravel, sliding around the corners and dodging people crossing the track during the race.
Memories of the show in the 1990s for children were the importance of choosing the best show bags, the scary Cha Cha, the Gravitron that left people stuck against the walls as it spun and fireworks which made a big impression
Early Horsham shows were all about agriculture, horses, grand parades, farm machinery and indoor competitions.
The decision by the council to end the half-day holiday for the show and later the Wimmera Machinery Field Day farming displays reduced the number of show patrons.
So keep the tradition alive by supporting the show and making memories for your children and grandchildren.
