This year’s Canterbury A&P Show will be held after all, and while there will be some differences, organisers are promising it will still resemble a traditional agricultural show.
It will run from November 13-16 and be known as the Christchurch Show. It will be jointly run by the Canterbury A&P Association and Christchurch company Event Hire.
Phil Anderson, a co-owner of Event Hire, said the association will hold its livestock events and competitions from November 13-15, as originally scheduled, and his contribution will run from November 14-16.
Anderson said his focus will be on providing side shows, rides, food and market stalls, but will also ensure there are traditional machinery stands and animal interaction.
The final split of who does what is still to be decided but Anderson says the additional day is intended to lure attendance from people outside the Canterbury region.
“It will be scaled appropriately and will deliver on value with the feel and flavour of an A&P Show,” he said.
The two parties will spend the next few weeks confirming the finer details of how the event will run and who will contribute what.
Financial issues had thrown the annual event into doubt when the association’s board announced it was only going to hold livestock competitions this year.
Complicating the issue is a decision by the Canterbury A&P Association board to resign saying they cannot work with the association’s general committee.
Those resigning include board chair Stewart Mitchell who last month said the move follows a challenge from the association’s 27-member general committee to the board’s decision to cancel the 2024 show.
“As a board we decided it was much better for time to be spent reviewing changes to the business, accumulating reserves and taking time to plan for a new and curated show in 2025,”he said at the time.
Late last month the Christchurch City Council paid the board $5 million to surrender its 100-year lease on 5 hectares of council land, which it used to repay a loan to the council.
