I have to confess that I have been to the Easter Show (again).
Well, a friend give a free ticket (Thanks, Jo !) , so why not.. Beside, my 3 years old probably now can enjoy it much better than when she was a baby… I’ve been there 4 times. The first one is given. Second one to show to my wife who just arrive Sydney. The third one when parents come and visit.
And again last Saturday. It was beautiful gorgeous day. Sun shines with blue sky, temperature probably mid 20°C, not windy. Perfect outing day.
But it get worse…
First of all, the ticket price. Adult at $32, Child $21.5 ! This has to be categorized as very ridiculous price! I have to agree that this is absolutely total rip-off by Royal Agriculture Society. (They will cry to defend that the price includes public transport, yes, clever tactic, but: (1) not all are using public transport , (2) let the state transport worry about the transport)
All the stall owner pay big money just to be there, all sponsors pay big money just to be there. All the ride are extra, all the facilities are public anyway (Our Olympic park is state owned), all the food are at premium price. So what’s the money for ? I would bet, if they just give free entry, they still make money. Guaranteed !
OK, not free – I agreed. But probably $5 per person it’s enough, isn’t it ?
The showbag
The price is between $1 to $25 with multi varieties from just a bunch of candy of complete sport set toys. But good luck finding anything below $15 that draw interest from kids! Lucky, mine is just 3 years old, otherwise just with 2 children you can easily spend $100.
The other concern is with those toys and goodies inside the bag… Anybody control the quality ? Or just some cheappies from China… (probably more than 90% of them) ?
Toys in the toy store got audited from time to time, but how about this ‘tradition’?
The Display
Although from year to year the main attraction is always the same, but I have to admit that they are pretty good as alternative for busy people in big city like Sydney. We can see those beautiful stock, kettle, even pig and the poultry are actually filling our live without we really realize it . The children can experience first hand how to milk a cow and realize that milk not coming from supermarket. One can see how wool and cotton are produced. Not too mention those gorgeous fresh food and beverage on offer….
The worst
Dogs show is my favorite. Actually all of us like it. But from year to year it just getting worse.
If you go to the pavillion and circling around and you don’t lnow what pavilion it is, you will hardly can guess that that one is for the dog show. First of all, there are hardly any dog….
Among hundreds of cubicle , I would say, I saw only about 10 dogs. And they are mostly sleep.
Yes, there is a judging outside, but not all those cubicle is for poodle, isn’t it?
Secondly, all those cubicle is just horrible. What we – the guest – see, it was just a parade of various colorful bag and plastic bag all over the cubicle and also a parade of sleeping/boring owner sitting beside/in front of cubicle. Some even snores….
The organizer should easily make it better place: no bag or plastic bag allowed. Participant must display their animal at least 70% of the time (excluding judging/practice time), no human is allowed to sleep inside cubicle.
Come on, it basically an exhibition… cannot see that spirit in this pavillion… Not sure if this happened on other pavillion (say cat pavillion) as my appetite of looking a good show has been already destroyed by the condition of this dog pavillion
The Security
I was amazed that during the day, probably every 15 minutes walking I can see a pair of policemen do foot-patrol wandering around and enjoying the day as well. Only after I ready the newspaper that day I know the real reason. Apparently the night before, a worker has been stabbed by disgruntled customer and since then the security is heighten. So, the conclusion is without the incident do we have enough security….
Enough
OK, enough whining and whinging. I hope the organizer reading this blog and others. In the meantime, I will think several times again before decide to go back to another one. Now I understand why a friend of mine with 2 children can spend $600 for an expensive day out! Do you share the same pain ?
