The Return of the Royal Easter Show

The 2021 Sydney Royal Easter Show has been the biggest ticketed event in the world in 2021. Karen Sweaney looks at its success

The gates have officially closed, the rides are back on the road and the animals and farmers have returned home, with the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) having revealed remarkable attendance levels for the 2021 Sydney Royal Easter Show, welcoming 800,000 people to the event over its 12 days - becoming the largest event to take place globally since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Held from 1st to 12th April, the Show broke five attendance records since its relocation to Sydney Olympic Park, while successfully delivering a COVIDSafe event with the daily capacity limits dispersing crowds and ultimately creating history through higher mid-week attendance.

RAS General Manager Agriculture and the Show, Murray Wilton, said following an incredibly tough year for all Australians, the Show was an incredible success, commenting “the Show has provided an opportunity for our farmers and Sydneysiders to come together safely and celebrate everything we know and love about rural Australia: farmers, food and family fun.”

Initially capped at 60,000 attendees per day, as of 9th April, NSW Health approved an additional 10,000 general admission ticket holders for its second weekend based on the RAS’ success in delivering a COVIDSafe show over the previous nine days.

In a statement welcoming this, released during the Show, Wilton advised “we are delighted to provide more patrons with the opportunity to come to the Show over its last weekend.

“Following the cancellation of the Show in 2020, there is massive interest and affection for the Show, and we want to give as many people as possible, in a COVIDSafe manner, the opportunity to experience what only the Sydney Royal Easter Show can offer.”

The Show’s COVIDSafe practices, included more than 180 cleaning staff and 130 hygiene personnel onsite and encouraged patrons to utilise the Show crowd management system to take control of their journey at the Show via the Show app.

Planned at short notice with the event only being given approval to be staged in December last year, the attendance figures - which included ticket holders, agricultural and commercial exhibitors, staff, volunteers and others working at the Show - demonstrated, Wilton explained “this year’s Show

has been a major success and has shown the amazing work rural communities are capable of.

“We’re incredibly proud of the competitors and exhibitors for the talent and professionalism they have shown throughout the show period and we hope to see everyone again next year.”

Among other successes, the Big Bush BBQ raised over $30,000 for the 12 local show societies that manned the stand over the Show period while the RAS Foundation, through sales of its popular ‘Ag Bag’, raffle of donated hay and sale of the RAS ribbon rugs, raised $120,000 which will be directed back to regional communities.

The Rural Students’ Café also provided students from around NSW with the opportunity to develop hospitality skills and fundraise. The students worked incredibly hard and sold over 2,800 coffees and teas, 3,000 ice teas and 1,800 tasting plates for their school programs.

In addition, the Show continued its tradition of providing memorable opportunities and educational experiences for all ages. Little Hands on the Land, a child-sized working farm, welcomed more than 40,000 children through its gates.

Other achievements saw a 20% reduction in the Show’s operating costs by the RAS while, overall, its successful staging is seen as giving confidence to the events sector that large events can operate in a COVIDSafe environment.

In an ever-changing COVID influenced environment, when RAS Chief Operating Officer, Darryl Jeffrey sat down with NSW Health last year to discuss the likelihood of going ahead with the event he was surprised by how supportive the department was.

Jeffrey explained “at that stage, the most they had approved was 50,000 for the NRL Grand Final, and we essentially wanted to run the largest attended event in the world.”

Weighing up options and mindful of the implications if a sudden COVID outbreak immediately before the Show had meant the 2021 edition was cancelled, as the RAS could not secure pandemic insurance (the case for virtually every other event in the world), Jeffrey noted “we lost millions of dollars last year. We knew we were going to lose money again on this year’s show, but we thought we needed to do it again.

“We didn’t want to see two years of not having the Easter Show.”

Putting an extensive range of COVIDSafe measures in place as of late March, NSW Health approved the Show hosting up to 60,000 ticket holders on site each day – with the cap later raised 70,000 for the final weekend as of 9th April.

Welcoming the increase in Show numbers, Sydney Royal Easter Show General Manager, Murray Wilton stated “we have been working closely with NSW Health for the past six months to develop our plans and have invested significantly in infrastructure, equipment and systems to help protect the health and safety of all patrons, exhibitors, staff and competitors who attend the Show.”

For showgoers, tickets had to be purchased online before the Show, with ‘early bird’ tickets costing $38 for adults and $23 for children if purchased prior to 1st April.

On site, innovations from technology advisory and investment company PMY Group - which has developed systems for more than 200 venues and major events across 14 countries - was used to control the number of people within venues.

Expanding a 10-year partnership between the RAS and the Sydney-based PMY Group first agreed in late 2019, 74 cameras were mounted across the site, including at entry and exit areas to the Sydney Showgrounds’ pavilions to count people in and out. The system tracks body mass with traffic lights at the entry

indicating when venues are getting close to COVID capacity.

Overall, with Showground events staff integrated in the Royal Easter Show team, preparations involved an additional $1.53 million investment in safety, social distancing and hygiene measures across its 40 hectare site.

With hygiene staff specifically committed to COVID hygiene, 62 COVID marshals focused on social distancing and 50 hand sanitiser sites across the Showground in addition to extensive handwash stations in place for bio security while all operators and outlets also provided hand sanitiser.

Quayclean was responsible for cleaning, waste management, hygiene, disinfection, and decontamination services, with Quayclean Australia Chief Executive, Mark Piwkowski advising after the event that “the organisers have already acknowledged that the Show has never been as clean (which) was awesome feedback for the dedication shown by all members of the team.”

Capacity measures and the need to enforce social distancing saw some attractions, as well as rides on Sideshow Alley, spaced a little further apart than in previous years.

While the insurance crisis did see a small number of prominent thrill rides of past years not at the Show, Sideshow Alley hosted 60 rides while the food court’s 100 outlets reported a 23% rise in food sold.

Among ride operators, Chippa Chant of Chants Amusements said this year was “the best Sydney show we’ve ever worked.”

Chant added “our industry’s done it very tough due to COVID-19. We were one of the first industries to be shut down, and one of the last industries to be let open back up.”

With 1.914 million unique ride experiences delivered during the Show, the consumption of ride coupons saw the millions of coupons usually ordered for the carnival proving inadequate. An additional coupon order exhausted all paper stock, with 1.5 million coupons having to be recycled and repackaged after their daily weighing - the system by which monies are allocated and returned to ride operators to keep the rides spinning.

The pooling of Show and Showground staff also provided a valuable team integration exercise allowing staff to experience new roles while further reducing operating costs.

The Brisbane outbreak of COVID-19 just two days before the start of the Easter Show was a significant threat and with NSW Health shutting down Bluesfest in Byron Bay just before the Easter weekend, the RAS was prepared to take advice from the agency if the risk was deemed too great.

Advising that there were some sleepless nights as that outbreak unfolded Jeffrey recalls “(as) it crept down to Byron … we started to think, is this going to hit on day two or three of the Easter Show?”

“We sent an email to every single person who had bought an Easter Show ticket reminding them of their obligations.”

As things eventuated, the Show went on to be the biggest ticketed event in the world in 2021. Karen Sweaney is Editor of Australasian Leisure Management.

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Scenes from the 2021 Sydney Royal Easter Show including Quayclean’s event team (left).