All-Ireland No Name Hostess of the Year Suzanne O’Donnell and Robbie Murray, captain of the county and All-Ireland-winning St Thomas hurling team, will open this year’s Gort Show on Saturday.
The launch takes place at 1.30pm, where the All-Ireland and the county cups will be proudly displayed.
The Gort Show is growing each year and despite the economic climate, the community has pulled together once again to facilitate a great event.
There are more than 250 competitive classes featuring in the first All-Ireland photography final, which, according to the organisers, is expected to be a huge success, judging by the amount of entries so far. There has never been a photography all-Ireland category in Agricultural Show history.
All indoor exhibits, which are handmade or produced by the exhibitor, will be on display in the community centre and to facilitate exhibitors, non-perishable exhibits will be placed on Friday evening between 6pm and 9pm. There will be a special draw for exhibitors who bring their exhibits on the Friday night. Judging of the home produce, garden, flower, photography, handcrafts, children’s and young people’s sections starts at 10.30am on Saturday morning and exhibitors are reminded their exhibits must be in place by then.
There are four championship classes in the horse section. Entries for the horse, pony and donkey sections, which will take place at Lavally, Loughrea Road, will be taken from 10.30am, with judging starting at 11am.
The increasingly popular dog section, which now has 26 classes, will take place on the community school grounds and entries will be taken from 11.30am, with judging commencing at 1pm sharp.
TV may have the X-factor but Gort Show has the AW-factor and when it comes to cuteness and adorability, the pets’ corner and cat sections, which will take place just outside the community centre, always bring smiles to young and old alike.
The poultry section demands attention with their display of spectacular colour and variety of breeds. These will be housed in the special marquee.
A highlight of the day is the bonnie baby competition, which starts at 2pm.
There will also be fierce competition for the most appropriately dressed lady and most appropriately dressed gent during the day.
Students of Gort Community School will exhibit handcrafted woodwork and due to popular demand, The Dog and String Theatre from Boston, Tubber is back this year to give another entertaining, free puppet show. A bouncy castle will keep the children entertained, as well as free face painting.
Athenry Archery Club will put on a special demonstration for spectators and the Animal Magic Road Show will parade their birds of prey, rare animals and reptiles.
A special attraction this year will be the staging of a model railway.
There will be lots of locally homemade and handcrafted items available on the day including knitted and crochet babywear, designer fabric bags, custom-made cards, jewellery, soap, scrumptious cupcakes, cookies, sauces, chutneys and jams. There will also be a healing tent offering mini sessions of reiki, card reading and so on.
The new soon-to-be-opened Zone Youth Café will be giving visitors an opportunity to throw beans over their members, or those who don’t want to get dirty can throw a wet sponge instead.
There will be entertainment from members of Gort No Name Club and live music by Adam Downey and his band Kneck to Kneck; Gina Fennessy and Cathal Broderick, all budding singers from the local community.