Craft, cooking, art, yarn spinning, animals, a giant jumping castle and market stalls were all part of the 90th annual Bowral Show.
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Held at the Bong Bong Racecourse on Saturday and Sunday, January 13 to 14, the show was a celebration of community talent and country living.
Aside from the horses, the show’s main attraction was the pavilion, where photography, needlework, craft, crochet, knitting, spinning, felting, weaving, cookery and preserves were all on display.
Pavilion steward Virginia O’Neill said entries were up this year and the judges were impressed by the high quality of work submitted.
“Entries keep growing every year,” she said.
“There were many first time exhibitors. We’re also getting lots of people visiting from everywhere – not only to see the horse show, but for the pavilion too.
“I’ve chatted to people from Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong today. I think people like the community feel.”
The other pavilion steward, Katherine Wood, said the country show was an important way to foster creativity in the community.
“One of the biggest roles [of the pavilion] is to encourage the community to contribute, to make things, and to talk about it,” she said.
Many of the works entered into the pavilion classes are labours of love created by people from scratch – whether it be the knitted, crocheted or woven pieces submitted by members of the Yarnspinners group who make their own wool on the wheel, dye it, and then turn it into something usable; or the honey from Mrs O’Neill, farmed from bees in her own backyard.
This year, the Yarnspinner's Trophy was awarded to a highly detailed and intricate embroidery of a horse.
“You don’t do it for the money,” said Robynn Ross of Yarnspinners.
“We do it for the craft. This is what we do to breathe.”