A rollicking time had at this year’s Perth Royal Show

By creammagazine, October 5, 2022

This year’s Perth Royal Show was packed with classic events and a few new adventures to boot.

There were the usual laughing clowns at sideshow alley, performers on stilts, cat and dog best-in-shows, and riveting rides to tempt you, but also a bunch of fresh stuff to see and do.

First stop for us, the Animal Nursery, where this year better biosecurity measures were adopted to reduce the risk of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, and Covid spread. After sanitising our hands, we got up close and snuggly with a couple of baby chicks and the cutest piglets you ever did see. While we didn’t get a chance to feed any of the animals this time, we’ll be sure to book a session in next year.

There’s a beaut section where kids can learn about sustainability in farming, and also cooking workshops for the kids to try their hand at playing mini masterchef.

Speaking of food, the Taste WA Pavilion hosted a plethora of food displays, from organic and free-range produce to masterclass cooking demonstrations. There was also a licensed bar for adult folk to kick back and enjoy a drink-slash-break from all the busy-ness and noise.

Entries for this year’s food competitions were impressive, from upside down cakes (literally) to edible sculptures of famous Aussie folk.

New this year was the scarecrow competition: a creative and fun category aimed at enlightening folks on where our food actually comes from. Various schools entered the competition, creating some of the brightest looking scarecrows we ever did see.

Healthy food was a highlight at this year’s show, with fruit smoothie stands just about everywhere you looked, making for competition to all the junk food stands.

Mind you, all that healthy stuff didn’t deter us from craving some good old-fashioned carnival fast food. Cue one-foot Dagwood Dogs and Loaded Fries all round, thanks!

Novelty food was the big thing this year and we also managed to squeeze in some ‘donut fries’ (think gooey dough deep-fried in the shape of chips… yummy!) and rainbow burgers (charcoal; green; even purple). We did consider chomping on a giant turkey leg but that would have filled us up too quickly for the rides that lay ahead.

In keeping with the traditional theme, the rides we opted for this year were a couple of basic ones – the good ol’ water log slide, cable carts and bumper cars. Mind you, the guy at the ticket box for the bumper cars was so generous he let us on two-for-one. And if families were budgeting for their children, there were plenty of rides on offer two-for-one in the Kid’s Luna Park section.

A trip to the show is not complete without a trek down showbag alley. We stocked up on bags containing sour chews, choccies, and bubble gum galore. But it was an unlikely bag that caught our attention this year. I was always going to buy a Women’s Weekly bag for my Mum since it contained some dandy good stuff like three lifestyle magazines and plenty of healthy snacks – all for just $20. When we got to the bag stand, there was a special on – two Women’s Weekly bags for just $15. We bought six and carried these around for half the day, which also kept us pretty fit! And Mum loved the showbag in the end.

After four hours of walking around, heavy bag-lifting, zipping from ride to ride, and scoffing down delicious fast food, we decided to call it a day. But not before a quick dash around the grounds, looking every for a Beatles showbag. Darn it – they’d gone and sold out of them, but then that’s what we get when we choose the last day to visit the show. Next year we’ll get in earlier.

Antonino Tati