Showbags, not rides for Governor-General

Her favourite part of agricultural shows is the cakes and crafts.

And she’s partial to a good showbag.

“Showbags for me were big as a kid, we would try to get as many showbags as we could with our pocket money,” she said.

The rides not so much.

Being asked to open the 150th anniversary Shepparton show was a huge honour, she said.

“What I see here is the best of community.”

Community is what the show is all about.

Seventy-five year-old Rob Slee has been coming to the show for seven decades.

She has fond memories of attending as a child.

“We used to come in our best dress, my sister and I,” she said.

A special memory for Ms Slee was presenting a posy at the opening of the show one year.

Her father, Murray Slee, was president of the show for a couple of years.

Shepparton mayor Geoff Akers also has a strong family connection to the show, stretching back five generations.

“I can remember my mother and grandmother in the cookery section,” he said.

His family has entered the poultry section of the show regularly since the 1940s.

As a Tallygaroopna dairy farmer, Mr Akers has also won the Champion Jersey contest a couple of times.

His daughter has also entered the under-12 cooking competition this year.

He’s proud to see the show make its 150th year.

“It’s just fantastic that we can still have that agricultural focus,” he said.

The Shepparton Show continues today from 10am to 10pm.