EUROA’S world-class Show ‘n Shine car and motorbike exhibition is changing its footing somewhat in preparation for this year’s event to be held on Sunday October 5.
A possible reconfiguration of venue, contingency plans for rain, and a sponsorship drive are in the works, according to the Show ‘n Shine organizing committee president Donna Carroll.
“We are a victim of our own success,” Ms Carroll said on Monday while visiting the event’s past and future sponsors in Euroa.
“We are actually running into a number of issues which include safety, location, and cost, because the show has become just so big.
“It was at capacity last year, so do we want to grow it even bigger or do we want to do things smarter and better?”
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Ms Carroll also said the committee was ‘revamping and realigning’ with insurance and mandatory safety measures, and although the show has normally been held in Seven Creeks Park, its size now meant that flooding and heavy rainfall needed to be considered.
“We are going to sit down with council and the (Euroa) Agricultural Society and look at a map for some commonsense changes,” Ms Carroll said.
“The river has risks with flooding and we always need to have a backup plan.”
The show continues to attract visitors and vendors each year with Ms Carroll having no doubt about its future.
“More and more people want to come and be part of the day,” she said.
“That’s not the real challenge.”
What the committee is now seeking is an enthusiastic army of good volunteers to help the show continue and is hatching a plan that is sure to be a win-win.
“Here’s what we are offering to community groups – they can be schools, sports clubs, charities, it doesn’t matter.
“Operationally, we need lots of hands for bumping in and bumping out and marshalling the cars and bikes in and out again, but we have about ten gates that need to be manned all day as well.
“We want to delegate each gate to a community group who can run their own fundraising at the gate and then get from us a substantial donation on top.
“We will provide them with a marquee, table, esky, and even a cash run, and they can do whatever they like, whether that’s a raffle, a stall, or barbecue.
"They can decorate their stall to promote their group - they get the ownership of that gate for the day."
Which gets to the very heart of the event apart from it being an exciting and rich day of high-octane motoring enthusiasm.
“That’s what we are actually about as well, donating to community groups.”
Liquorworks proprietor Bernard Hamill was a gold sponsor last year and said local businesses needed to get behind the event.
"An event like this is very important because it brings a lot of people to the town," Mr Hamill said.
"The number of people swells so everyone should be picking up more business on the day, like us."
Mr Hamill said any sized event in Euroa needed full local support through sponsorship and had a word for any small businesses in town who make the most of extra trading on the day.
"They should jump on and help support the show to make sure that it stays in Euroa because its something we don’t want to lose."
