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Riverina Field Days |
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History |
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Phone: (02) 6964.8811 |
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To contact us: |
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Since 1988 the Riverina Field Days (under a former name) has been owned and operated by media companies WIN Television Griffith and Radio 2RG, Griffith following an invitation from NSW Agriculture to move their field day from Darlington Point to a site at the Yanco Agricultural Institute. The reason behind this was so that the event could be used to promote what they did at the Institute and showcase their facilities. Government intervention a few years ago has seen all this change and the reason for the field day being there no longer exists.
In July 2006 WIN Television announced that the field day did not fit into their rationalisation plans and indicated that they would no longer be the chief organiser or funder of the Farm Fair. Macquarie Radioworks (2RG’s parent company also followed suit).
In order to see that the event continued, an approach was made to the Griffith Showground Trust to see if they had an interest in taking on the Farm Fair and re-locating it to Griffith. They were agreeable and arrangements were immediately put in place. For the event to survive it was imperative that it be moved somewhere where there could be savings made on expenses. The cost of $10,000 per year to the DPI for the rental of the land was just one such saving.
Given that the new owners and the organiser are based in Griffith it was a logical decision to relocate the event to Griffith.
Ffiona Beverley, who had been employed by WIN Television soley to organise the field day agreed to go with the Riverina Field Days and will be your first point of contact.
There is a great deal of infrastructure in place at the Griffith Showgrounds such as permanent toilet facilities, sealed roads in many areas as well as seating and trees for shade. There is a permanent bar facility as well as three buildings able to provide exhibitors with undercover areas, thus saving them marquee hire.
Since the initial negotiations to move the event, the Leeton Shire Council suddenly showed an interest and have taken the step of registering the name, something that WIN/2RG had not thought to do in 19 years, and for the sake of continuity it would have been good to be able to keep the name however this was not to be and a change of name was forced on the new organization. However they believe that with new owners, new venue and a new sponsor that a new name was appropriate and so the Riverina Field Days is born. The Leeton consortium have also taken the unbelievable step of deciding to hold the event next year in the week following the Riverina Field Days.
Contrary to ascertains from some uninformed individuals, there is plenty of room at the Griffith Showgrounds to accommodate exhibitors. Whilst it will not be set out in rows as it was at Yanco, there will certainly be areas set aside soley for exhibiting machinery, as well as other areas for general rural exhibitors as well as a separate area for the exhibitors which appeal more to the urban visitor.
As was the case at Yanco there will not be someone selling clothing next to an exhibitor with farm machinery. This has worked well in the past and there is no reason not to continue with this method of site allocation.
Moving the event to an area which a much larger population base should see an increase in crowd numbers which had been dwindling over the past 3-5 years.
Whilst both media companies will have nothing to do with the organisation of the Riverina Field Days from now on, both companies have pledged their support through advertising.
Read about the success of the inaugural field day here.
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