How to Celebrate Royal National Agricultural Show Day Queensland in Australia

The Royal National Agricultural (RNA) Show Day, generally called the Ekka, is held in Brisbane, Queensland’s capital. It is normally held on the second or third Wednesday of August. The Ekka holiday is typically the sixth day of The Royal Queensland Show and is a public holiday for individuals living and working within Brisbane city. It is otherwise called Ekka People’s Day and Brisbane Show Day.

The Royal Queensland Show is all the more famously referred to as “the Ekka Show,” “Ekka” being a sort of abbreviation for “exhibition.” The show is held annually for 10 days straight to mid-August. It was initially called “the Brisbane Exhibition,” and it is as yet held on the Brisbane Exhibition Ground in Bowen Hills, a suburb of Brisbane just about a kilometer from the city center.

In 2021, the show was canceled to control the spread of Covid-19 – the appended public holiday will be re-scheduled (to be affirmed). In 2020, the Queensland government moved the Ekka holiday from Wednesday to Friday to support the tourism industry – beforehand, the organizers of Ekka had decided to cancel the event for 2020 due to COVID-19.

Royal National Agricultural (RNA) Show Day History

The history of the show day began when a group of colonists met in Brisbane to form an agricultural and industrial association in 1875. The affiliation planned to promote and encourage Queensland’s agricultural and industrial development, as well as allowing nation and metropolitan occupants an opportunity to celebrate Queensland’s lifestyle. An intercolonial presentation was held from August 22-26, 1876, and proved to be a major achievement.

A public holiday was proclaimed and around 17,000 people went to the show on an opening day. At the time, Brisbane’s population was only around 22,000 individuals. The first “Royal” Show was held in 1921 and later on, the name of the show was abbreviated to “Ekka” demonstrating individuals’ affection for the show.

The Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) is the biggest and most loved annual event in Queensland, attracting on average 400,000 individuals to the Brisbane Showgrounds over the 10 days of the show.

The show celebrates agriculture in the region and features competitions for animals from cows to cats and for prize vegetables and traditional abilities like wood chopping. There is additionally a famous fun reasonable with a Ferris wheel. Guests can be seen snacking on Dagwood Dogs, a corn dog, or purchasing bags of candies and treats called show bags.

The show started back in 1876, which was a public holiday, and has occurred every year since except for 1919 (Spanish Flu) and 1942 (World War II).

The first ‘Royal’ Show occurred in 1921 after the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland was granted the Royal prefix under a warrant from His Majesty King George V.

The name ‘Ekka’ is an abbreviated version of the Queensland pronunciation of ‘Exhibition’.

The public holiday always happens on a Wednesday. This is at the request of the Royal National Agricultural (RNA) who sort out the Show Day.

The first Ekka Show was held in 1876 as an Australian identical to the International Exhibitions being held in the UK at the time. It drew around 17,000 guests, rather high numbers for its day yet nothing contrasted with the 500,000 or who come to the Ekka Show nowadays.

Initially, the show’s purpose was to show agricultural and industrial products of the city and region. This is as yet a significant component of the show, yet in actuality, it has prospered into an event with many different aspects to it.

Likely the most important competition is the cattle judging, in which more than 1,000 head of cattle compete for the coveted blue ribbon and the grand status of “Champion of Champions.” You can see many various types of animals at the show-grounds, including: milk and beef cows, cats, dogs, fish, chickens, turkeys, horses, ponies, goats, sheep, ducks, pigs, alpacas, and more. There are animal parades, an “animal boulevard,” and an animal nursery.

There are various “non-animal” competitions too, including wood chopping, whip cracking, and a fashion parade. There are educational, agricultural, equestrian, and flower and garden exhibits. There are live musical performances, a sideshow alley with various carnival-style rides, school bands and choirs, showings of farm and wild abilities to survive, cheese-making workshops, and fireworks displays each night.

The Ekka has been held every year with just three exceptions: when Brisbane experienced a Spanish flu pandemic in 1919, during World War II in 1942 when the show grounds were used as a staging depot for troops, and in 2021 when the show was canceled to control the spread of COVID-19.

How to celebrate Royal National Agricultural (RNA) Show Day?

The holiday mainly influences individuals living in the Brisbane region, albeit different regions all through the state have a comparative holiday to the Ekka holiday for their nearby shows. This holiday is otherwise called the Royal Queensland Show holiday, the Exhibition holiday, or the Ekka holiday.

A few people decide to spend the day relaxing at home, finding loved ones, or going out to see films. Nonetheless, many individuals all through the state of Queensland, Australia, group to the state’s capital city of Brisbane on this holiday to take an interest in the Royal National Agricultural (RNA) show.

Albeit just a single day is assigned as a public holiday for the show, the event spans over seven days, attracting an excess of 600,000 guests, including travelers and individuals from different towns and cities in Australia and around the world. Many individuals traveling from rural or regional areas of Queensland take a day off work or take their annual holiday leave for this event.

The Royal National Agricultural (RNA) show, usually known as the Ekka, features fireworks displays, a huge sideshow alley with different games and amusement park rides, fashion parades, prize-winning animals, crafts, and food. Different attractions incorporate the show bag pavilion, where many show bags are sold highlighting sweets, toys, devices, food, and magazines. Another feature of the occasion is the grand parade.

Numerous towns, cities, and shires all through the rest of Queensland are allocated a holiday like the Ekka holiday to host their own local shows, which reflect the Ekka at a smaller scale, at various seasons. The culmination of these shows is that a significant number of the local show winners in different competitions contend at a state level at the Ekka.

Statewide competitions at the Ekka incorporate those for cattle breeds, show dogs, horses, sheep, and sheepdogs. The winners of their regional or local shows typically travel to Brisbane to contend in the Ekka show.

The Royal National Agricultural (RNA) Show Day is a public holiday in the Brisbane region only. Nonetheless, numerous regions in southeast Queensland have a day off for their local shows around the same week to coincide with the Royal National Agricultural (RNA) Show Day.

Schools are shut as are numerous businesses. Numerous businesses and state and local government representatives in the Brisbane region have a day off. Additional public transport services, which incorporate bus and train services, are offered to those making a trip to and from the show on the day. Taxicabs might be busy, especially in the evening when individuals travel home from the Ekka.

Ekka is a public holiday just in Brisbane, which is by a long shot the greatest city in Queensland.

Across Queensland, every city, shire, and community will observe a public holiday on various Show Days. 93 different regions notice Show Holidays on 43 days as the year progressed.