It was hands up all round in support of the Berwick Show from Jackson McCarthy, Sarah Kane, Smantha Miseski and Jasmin Ilic.
BERWICK’S 2007 twoday show has been dubbed the ‘happy show’.
Show committee president Peter Wenn said everything fell into place, except for an issue with car parking.
Mr Wenn said about 40,000 people attended the show, with the highlights the record numbers in the sheep section, and entertainment, especially the spectacular monster truck Sampson.
“Cattle was down only slightly, which was good in view of the severe drought,” he said.
“The horse section as always was topclass and we had 70 entries in the Bute Ute competition. The wood chop is always a popular event.
“The trade stands were popular and tradespeople were happy with the response they received.”
Mr Wenn said the enormous effort by hundreds of volunteers kept the show running like clockwork.
“I commend all those people and thank them,” he said.
During the president’s lunch on Saturday, he said the Berwick Show committee was grateful for the support given by sponsors. “Some have been with us for many years, including major sponsor the City of Casey, and this year Westfield,” Mr Wenn said.
“We are lucky that we have young people coming on, but we invite more to become interested in the show management because we need more to help. We have established high standards with our occupational health and safety (OH and S) and our management of OH and S is seen as a benchmark for other show societies.”
Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) president Jack Seymour said Berwick was one of the best shows in Victoria, and one reason was that the old families who had run the show had kept with it.
Local identity Lady Uppity Crust said she was impressed with the show committee.
“It’s fabulous what they have done to provide such a brilliant outing for so many families,” she said.
“Today I saw so many smiles on so many faces that it has to be called the happy show.”
Police said crowd behaviour was great.
“We had a couple with a little too much to drink on Saturday night, but nothing significant,” a police spokeswoman said.
“The most we had to deal with was lost children.”
The spokeswoman said one great idea many families used was to put a wristband with a telephone number on their children or a piece of paper in their pocket with a phone number.
“This makes it so much easier to reunite children with parents,” she said.
Controversy raged on Saturday when it was found restrictions were placed on parking along High Street.
Mr Wenn said on Monday that the show committee and the council needed to hold indepth discussions regarding car parking for the show.
“It’s best that we cool it for a little and then talk it through,” he said.
