Fun, food and sleeping pigs - something for everyone at Bansha Show
Early in the morning of last Wednesday, August 25, the sun shone down on the Bansha Show field where stall-holders were setting up their wares, horses were being prepared for their competitions, sheep were being guided into pens and people were milling around getting things ready for the big day.
The big welcoming show tent was filled with arts and crafts, baking and goodies and home-grown vegetables that had all been judged the previous evening. The sun was shining, a breeze encouraged the flapping of the stall canvas roof tops and in the distance the annoucements for each show and competition category were ushering the competitors to their rounds. It was quiet, peaceful with a little buzz building in the air. The Galtees, blue, green and purple in the distance stood proud in the backdrop, keeping a majestic eye on this annual event that has grown in size and stature.
And then it grew again, by mid afternoon hundreds of people poured through the gates. Families were out for the day with their children running around excited to see everything. The show tent was full with spectators admiring all the entries. There were organic vegetables unrecognisable as the vegetable they claimed to be on their labels. They were massive! No wonder organic isn't being main-stream marketed, you'd be getting far too much goodness and wholesomeness for your money as well as the obvious fact that one giant organic carrot would feed a family of six for a week. Who needs the spray-on tan to look orange? Eat organic carrots. These vegetables were so colourful and beautiful that I think you could get kids to eat them with ease, once it had been carefully explained that the jolly giant farmer living nearby who had grown them, didn't eat children for breakfast like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk.
There were oohs and aahs around the cake section... as should be... always, especiallly the chocolate cake section. A passer-by explained that she could never get her sponge cake to rise... 'perhaps you're missing an ingredient' came the helpful response.
In the back field, horse and riders proudly galloped and donned their colours and art of showmanship. It was adorable to see the little ones on their ponies being led around the show ring for the judges to watch. Proud parents stood by the side-lines in their invisible mascot costumes, secretly shouting at the judge 'pick my child, pick my child'.
This year's show re-introduced the Horse & Carriage event and it was very popular for the on-lookers. The riders were dresssed in costume and it was a very pretty sight to watch. Over the other side of the field there was livestock being judged. I watched one man carefully grooming his prize cow, brushing her coat, talking gently to her, calming her down, saying silent prayers that she would behave herself today, just for the judge... is there such a thing as a cow-whisperer?
There was a bull the size of a small house; as a matter of fact on closer inspection I'm sure I saw a family of four huddled around a 32inch flatscreen watching Toy Story in 3D inside. I kid you not!
Which brings me on to the adorable goats clustered together in wooden pens but there was something slightly odd about seeing a row of men showing off their prize sheep to a judge who checked each animal out, sheepishly. Did you see the sleeping pigs? They were on the left as you came in the main entrance and they were real because at first you may have thought they were stuffed animals well placed to fool you... but every now and then these satiated celebrities, obviously well-used to an adoring audience and having their photos taken, would change pose and open one eye to check-out what was happening on the scene around them. Otherwise, they slept through most of the crowds and commotion passing by. I heard one of the pigs mention how arduous it was to be eyed up and down and so well-adored... I didn't want to add that Ireland is the biggest consumer of porky products in Europe. Just didn't have the heart.
Hundreds of smiling faces said it all at the Bansha show. It was a fabulous family day out with so much to see, watch and be entertained by. By late evening the stall-holders began dismantling their stalls, the horses were ushered back into their horse boxes, the sleeping pigs were awoken and after a few more paparazzi photographs were led into their carriage and the committee of the Bansha show sighed relief and appreciation that yet another very succesful and well-organized Bansha show had passed. Congratulations to all the competitors who entered the many, many competitions and a huge congratulations to the Bansha Show Committee.
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Weather for Clonmel
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
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Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
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