THE DISMAL summer weather has done little to derail preparations for the 2012 Tullamore Show, which is set to take place in Co Offaly this Sunday.
Organisers of Ireland’s largest one-day agricultural event say their showground remains in good condition despite the heavy summer rainfall.
The Tullamore Show and AIB National Livestock Show was moved to the Butterfield Estate at Blueball, Tullamore, in 2009, after two consecutive summer floods led to the event’s cancellation at a former site.
Since the move, the show has enjoyed growing success and record attendances. In 2011 more than 60,000 people and 650 trade stand exhibitors made the trip.
The Butterfield Estate was selected for its high ground and undulating terrain, the show’s vice- chairman, Tom Maher, said.
“It’s an extremely free-draining site, there is excellent soakage and with the forecast for the next three days being extremely warm and dry, we have no real concerns . . . If we were on low-lying ground we would have cut the site to ribbons.”
Mr Maher said the weather had not deterred exhibitors or competitors. Numbers overall were “on a par with last year’s record-breaking entries”.
Work on the estate has been under way for the past month. Marquees, trade stands and more than 2.5km of steel trackways are in place at the 250-acre site.
Show spokesman Christy Maye said entries in cattle, cookery and a number of other sections were well up on last year.
The show hosts more than 1,000 competitions in every class for a prize fund of €165,000. The main event for breeders will be a chance of success in the gold medal championships, where 21 gold medals are up for grabs.
The Tullamore Show takes place at the Butterfield Estate in Blueball, Tullamore, Co Offaly, on Sunday