By Beckie Wilson
In between the heavy downpours that dominated Saturday, keen punters braved the conditions to make the most of Masterton’s 130th A&P Show.
The show’s organiser Grant Poulton said it was a great success despite the rain.
“A number of brave Mastertonians enjoyed what we had to offer,” Mr Poulton said.
“Those that came out were rewarded.”
A tally of ticket sales hadn’t been done by Sunday morning, but he said understandably the weather did keep some people at home.
He had hoped to get around 5000 people through the gate, which was “a little bit less” than last year.
“[I] haven’t done official numbers, but surprisingly our attendance was similar to last year – it went to show that, in my mind anyway, we had a great valued day out for people.”
He predicted that if the weather had have been on their side, the show would have excelled, but sadly “the weather prevented us from reaching full potential.”
Mr Poulton said all animal exhibitions and events turned out great, with the beef exhibition exceeding previous years.
With this year’s turnout, considering the less than appealing weather, he said they were looking forward to next year as they have the right “recipe” to put on a good show.
He would like to thank everyone who went and supported the event, and gave a congratulations to the Carterton Rugby club who won the tug-of-war competition.
Adding to weather troubles was a diesel spill which closed the Rimutaka Hill Road on Saturday morning at about 10am, leaving motorists travelling both directions at a stand-still for about three hours.
The spill was cleared and the road reopened at about 1pm on Saturday.
Mr Poulton said the road closure delayed musicians coming from Wellington to perform, but it most likely only caused “lateness more than anything”.
