This weekend it was the Brookfield Show 2009, an annual event put on by Brookfield Show Society. I went to this same show last year, and I’m sure that this years event was even bigger than the last.
Brookfield is in the western suburbs of Brisbane and if you love horses you’ll love Brookfield, or Brookie as it is known locally. It can’t be any more then 25 minutes drive from the city, yet amazingly this place is considered to be out in the sticks. If Brookfield has any shops, I haven’t seen them. It really is just rolling hills, lush green countryside and acreage – houses on more than an acre of land.
This year’s Brookfield show ran for 3 days from Friday 15th of May through until Sunday 17th. It had a bouncy castle….
Yes, bouncy castles can look like that in Australia.
The show also included a rodeo, wine tasting, a circus, monster trucks, some motorcycle stunt riders, as well as events inside the show ring including wood chopping and showjumping. There was also a fireworks display at 7 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday evenings. And all of this is included in your entry fee of $16 for adults and eight dollars for children for one day’s entry. Unlimited family passes for the whole weekend were also available at just $65.
And there were plenty of a fairground rides for the children, as well as side shows and the usual food stalls. I have to say though, the rides were not included in the entry fee and were not particularly cheap. But that is not to say that the Brookfield show does not deliver value for money. It’s a great weekend event and was really packed, so I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed it.
For me, the most fascinating part of the show was the cooking contest. There was a whole building on the site dedicated to displaying the winners of the various contests, showing who came first, second and third.
I saw rich fruit cake, boiled fruit cake, pumpkin fruit cake, sultana cake, banana cake, orange cake and chocolate cake. Cupcakes, shortbreads, sliced breads, brownies, muffins and scones. There was rosella jam, berry jam and marmalades. There were mustards, pickles, chutneys and other various relishes. There were sauces, chilli (green and red), tomato and plum. Then there were bush lemon butters, honeys, sweets, fudges, chocolates and more cakes. Then more, Anzac biscuits, cookies, slices and pastries. And then there was everything repeated, but this time for the children’s section.
All I can say is, there has been a lot of cooking going on around here in the last month. It was a hugely impressive display. But as I said earlier, shops are scarce in Brookfield. Probably quicker to make it.
I have almost certainly not done justice to the entire event, but if you do want to know more they have a website over at brookfieldshow.com. I took a look at the site and was actually quite amazed to read that the Brookfield Show Society was actually formed in 1897. They certainly haven’t had an annual show every year since then, but they do have a lot history.
