Ekka reflections
We visited the famous Queensland show, the Ekka*, last week. For my overseas friends, the Ekka is a bit like a county fair – where the country brings its best to the city, and the city shares its bright lights and crowds with the rural visitors.
For many years, as I was growing up, I arrived at the gates of the Exhibition Grounds as a wide-eyed bush kid sticking close by my parents’ sides – stunned and amazed at the BIGNESS of it all. The huge shiny cows, the enormous Clydesdale Horses, the sass and aerobatics of the showjumpers, the siren call of the Sample Bag pavilion and the wicked allure and neon flash of Sideshow Alley…
After completing my secondary schooling at a faraway boarding institution, I visited again – this time as a new-to-the-city-based almost-adult. And still, I enjoyed it. I soaked in the fashion parades (Cotton and Wool in separate instalments with long line-ups of fashion-conscious teenagers) and sat self-conscious on the chair-lift gliding across the tops of the pavilions and swirling, milling crowds below. As a uni student, the annual show became a chance to catch up with old friends from my childhood, to share a coffee (or something stronger) with mates, to dance the night away at the Jubilee Hotel with a gazillion other Ekka-goers.
(Well HELLO Jubilee Hotel! Who owns that FILTHY once-white Prado reflected in your windows? I’ll tell you who – a couple who met in your very walls. But that’s another story, for another time.)
As my career took off, so did I. Eventually – maybe a decade later – I returned. I had travelled the world, and explored all kinds of experiences and culture, and this time I came back to the Ekka as an adult. A real one this time.
I came back to ‘my Queensland’, to live in Brissy (Brisbane if we are being formal) and to it’s Big Show. I found I could take or leave the crowds that had once transfixed me – after all, I navigated the sweaty crush of human flesh on a daily basis on the train commute to work in the city. The novelty had well and truly worn off that part of the Ekka. But the gentle aromas of the stock and the relaxed manner of their handlers beckoned me in. The cattle and horse pavilions, so carefully strewn with raked sawdust and decorated wtih leather halters and parading coats and Levi jeans. Warmed with welcoming smiles, and grinning pride in gleaming animals so carefully tended in their rows.
Perhaps it was the reminder of the ‘best of the bush’ from my Ekka visits more than ten years ago, that started me on the path that would inevitably take me (and my family) home? Who knows?
All I know is that the familiar wide-eyed stares of my own children, soaking up every nuance of Ekka magic…
…like sampling a $1 lollipop…
…or taking a virtual helicopter mustering experience…
… or sharing a surreal moment with a group of wildflower women…
… is a happy, familiar echo of my own Ekka memories.
And I think they are the luckiest kids in the world to get to sample it too.
I hope you get to share in some Ekka magic – or if you don’t live in Brissy, then you manage to make it to your own Big Show or County Fair soon. If you are going, share your plans. If you are far away, what is your nearest equivalent event?
*-*-*-
NB I did not take many photos this trip – my camera is playing up and I spent a whole day CAMERA-free at the Ekka. Unheard of. I will, however, share a couple of little vignettes from the day I DID take my sporadically-working Nikon. Soon. Promise.
15 Comments
Katy Potaty
You came to the big smoke? Awww. I’ll admit, I’m not a big Ekka fan – I have a clown and face-paint phobia. I do want to become one of the CWA ladies and pit my passionfruit sponge and lamingtons against the best, one day!
Bush Babe
Didn’t go ANYWHERE near clowns – and the nearest to face paint were the henna tattoos the kids got! You’d make an AWESOME CWA lady…
🙂
BB
jeanie
Just as long as you didn’t get the traditional Ekka souvenir of lurgy!!!
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Bush Babe
All clear so far – go early and go hard is my motto!
Jayne
Ahhh, the closest thing to the Ekka down here would be the Whittlesea Agricultural Show – still like a proper bush show with more character and small town pizazz than the overly commercialised Royal Melb Show 😉
The kids look like they had a great time 🙂
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Nancy in Iowa
I missed the Iowa State Fair, which I would have loved to experience. However, it’s simply too hot and my knees can’t walk far or stand long without sitting. So I’ll just remember all the wonderful county, state, and Renaissance fairs I’ve enjoyed over the years!!!
ellie
I loved county fairs when I was young but now they don’t hold the excitement they once did. I still love seeing the livestock and handy work the women enter but not the manners of some of the people that attend. I wish more people had manners and passed them on to there children.
Leenie
A day without a camera!! That takes strength of will…or a fritzy camera. Sometimes camera free is better, though. You enjoy moments instead of looking for a good angle and light.
Violet looks like she is totally soaking up all the attention from the frilly dress ladies. Dash has a winner for dinner. ;).
Our Big Fair is in a few weeks. I love to visit the barns and the show dogs. But my family always drags me off the the wild rides. Where I take pictures and hold babies.
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Donna Gunn
We will be attending the Los Angeles County Fair in September. This year has special meaning for me because I entered a wire wrapped necklace and a purse in the Tapestry competitions. Of course I am hoping for two blue ribbons! But the animals are my favorite exhibits–the cows and pigs and sheep and horses. Especially the horses.
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debby
A DAY WITHOUT A CAMERA????!!!!!
Okay. Who are you?! And what have you done with BB?!!!!
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sara perkins
Even tho I live in Maine, my favorite fair is in Deerfield NH. I make sure I get time off from work to be able to go to it in September. Then in November we go to the Equine Affaire (all about horses) in Springfield, MA. I love Deerfield, it is a good clean country agricultural fair. Not as big as yours tho.
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Kelly
That sucker of Dash’s looks quite tasty!! I love stuff like that.
I really like the photo of Violet with the wildflower women. Her bright pink fits right in!
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Amanda
Looks like you had lots of fun 🙂
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Jenni in KS
I don’t know what the county fairs are like everywhere, but in Kansas at least they are pretty small. What you’ve described sounds more like our state fair which is a very big deal here. It’s a combination of all the county fairs in the state in one way, but the rides and Sideshow Alley are greatly expanded and we get more entertainment with bigger names. The county fair typically showcases things produced in the county by county residents and the state fair does the same for the entire state. In addition, there are all sorts of goods shown and sold which people might find useful that are not necessarily made in the state. That means lots of tractors and farm equipment here. There is a very big emphasis on agricultural products, but there is also art and industry represented.
Right about now is the time for county fairs in Kansas. The next county to the south just had their fair last week, I think, and my oldest son and his friends went a few times. The state fair is in early September. You can see some of what they will have here: http://www.kansasstatefair.com/pagedescription.php?id=4&pages=sf (The Grandstand entertainment is right on the front page.)
Both county and state fairs are very big events for kids involved in 4-H, and we used to go to both when our kids were participating. Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Boy Scouts can also enter projects to be judged, and our kids did quite a lot of that. We know families (typically farm/ranch families who are very active in 4-H) who spend the entire week camping out at the fairs. It only makes sense if you have livestock there to be cared for and are showing something each day.
Now that our kids are older, we don’t really give a thought to going. The fair atmosphere can be fun, but the state fair is too crowded and there isn’t much to do at the county fairs. It doesn’t help either that they are held during the hottest part of the year. Your post has reminded me of all the fun of past fairs, though, so maybe we will go this year after all.
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Tamsyn
Being a Brisbanite (for the last 5 years) it’s a bit sad that I’ve never been to the Ekka. I think I will start going as soon as Max is old enough to enjoy it. I think it will be really nice for him and I to both experience it for the first time together 🙂
I’m glad you and the family had a great time, and love the photos that you did manage to take.
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