THE Sligo County Agricultural Show billed to go ahead this Saturday has been cancelled.
Following the last few weeks of poor weather, it was decided that the ground on which the show usually takes place was unsatisfactory which led to the cancellation.
Michael Harte, the chairman of the Sligo County Agricultural Show explained the decision.
“We had a meeting on Monday on the site. It is held in the Riverstown Community Park and the adjoining field to the park, but having looked at the site and accessing it on Monday night, we came to a decision we were not going to go ahead with it,” he said, speaking on Ocean FM this week, .
The conditions on the ground were the main cause for concern.
Mr Harte said part of the field was waterlogged.
“It was going to make a mess of the whole day unfortunately. With that in mind we decided we would cancel the event altogether,” he commented.
Beyond the ramifications for Riverstown and the show itself, there are also competitions which are usually held as part of the show which have now also been cancelled.
“I spoke to the Irish Shows Association on Tuesday and what I think they are going to do is reschedule them [qualifiers] to other shows. We were also rescheduling the Macra Na Feirme semifinal of the Farm Tasks. Unfortunately they are going to have to find a new venue as well. That final will be held at the Tullamore show [August 14] which will not give them a lot of time,” Michael Harte said.
The persistent rain over the course of the last number of weeks has been lodging in the field where the show was due to take place. “It is a decision that we hated to make, but it is a decision that had to be done. We had another venue lined up but unfortunately it is not available for next Saturday,” Michael Harte commented.
The chairman went on to say that the show would come back “bigger and stronger” next year and also thanked the sponsors of the event.
