By SOPHIE CAMPBELL, BOMBALA EXHIBITION SOCIETY PRESIDENT

PERHAPS it is simply the stress of helping to co-ordinate all the logistics of show day, but I’m feeling a little haunted this month.

As we pull together all the strands of a bustling, modern day show - and my mobile and email rings hot - it feels like there’s 150 years worth of show volunteers and show-goers looking over my shoulder.

The ghosts of show days past are definitely watching us. As more and more historic photographs, showtime memorabilia and historic anecdotes come into our show ground office HQ this week, I’m also truly humbled by how much our annual Bombala Show means to so many local families... and indeed, to our entire region.

In this day and age, when every minute seems to fly past and everyone is juggling their time, it’s hard to imagine - or even to truly fathom - just how much our world has changed over the past 150 years.

I’ve seen photos and heard the stories of horses and riders from the early 1900s, arriving to set up camp in the ‘big smoke’ of Bombala, having often ridden for days to get to the show from outlying properties or from the coast.

Impossibly high jumps for horses, heritage fruit and vegetables carried in by cart and hand-made art and craft exhibits of such incredible skill, they must have taken months if not years to create.

And it seems like everyone who comes onto the showground this month, or sees one of our show committee members down the street, has a show story to share.

Maybe it’s a grandparent, or an aunty or an uncle or a family ‘legend’ who played a key role in our local show.

Or maybe it’s the story of how a naughty pony ‘took off’ in the rider class, a ram or a bull that broke a fence. Maybe it was a crowing rooster that kept the showground neighbours awake or a momentous championship win that proved how perseverance in the pavilion exhibits really does (eventually) pay off.

This week, our incredible Bombala Exhibition Society committee and hard-working stewards and volunteers are busy preparing for what we all hope will be a magnificent milestone event on Saturday, 15 March.

It is my humble hope that the incredible big-thinkers and founders of those early Bombala Show days in the 1890s onwards - along with all the stalwart Bombala Exhibition Society members who have kept this agricultural show legacy so strong for over 150 years - would be proud of what our community has achieved.

And I also truly hope that our entire community comes together to honour that legacy.

To take the time to cut some flowers, or to bake a cake or to raid the vegetable patch or share your passion for art, craft or photography.

Perhaps you’ll bring your horse-loving children to see the Saturday show jumping or working horse challenge or to watch the graceful show hack and hunter horses at our Sunday horse event.

I hope you’ll also take a moment to wander through the live sheep, cattle and poultry exhibits, as well as setting aside the time to explore one of the largest and most diverse show pavilion exhibitions in southern NSW.

This Saturday, families from across the South East can also enjoy a diverse range of affordable entertainment and amusement rides and live shows and dynamic exhibits, while savouring an incredible range of food trucks and market stalls.

But it’s also important to recognise and appreciate that everything we do on Bombala Show day, is all thanks to the loyal support of our incredible local businesses, show sponsors, local families, individual donations and last but definitely not least our exceptional volunteers.

As I come to the end of a truly enjoyable (and ever-challenging) five-year role as president of the Bombala Exhibition Society, I truly look forward to spending my weekend admiring and applauding all that our community has achieved.

Bombala’s ‘Celebrating 150 years’ Show is a chance for us all to reflect on the importance of our community’s rich and diverse social, cultural and agricultural history, while giving us all a glorious glimpse into how that rich and diverse tapestry has helped to make the Bombala region what it is today.