ON PEOPLE’S DAY

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21940, 14 November 1936, Page 14

ON PEOPLE’S DAY

—• * The City’s Visit To The Royal Show CROWDS IN CARNIVAL MOOD On the top of a-jolting deck trailer is the way to travel to the show grounds on People sDy. There, swinging round the on the way to the Royal Show y today, were the really carefree and the really carnival-spirited. * u Imtog Ln shook off th. 1£ w£ of the nor’-west cloud, and the wak ened city shook off in royal good humour proper to the name and spirit of the show. The tram .top lifted eyes above the jostle at the turnstile S a^ es ’ f l ?' ‘ng sight ot tent-tops like mandsm the streaming crowd ~ Bright flags, snatches of march tup Sc! shouting, intermittent annual cries, came immediately senses. The sun over all, a warm blessing on the ho^ld^ y - their thfcurren? flowing, convergmg al Once inside everyone awar hj £ SsVcX'd, MSjSS it was a Royal Show; rather some thing intangible, a rela^.®h 9 snread holiday cheerfulness, which spr fmm the gates to the snow i«‘8) among the booths, and Kanedto give more lightness to the flags which* rose and fell m the hg Wmd ‘ Watching the Parade The grand parade usually dra ns spectators from every P ar * ° f ri *“ e grounds to the borders °t the ring, lo it did yesterday. But the diminution of the crowd was scarcely no ticeable, though every reasonable vantage point for seeing the parade was taken up. Even the roof of the cattle-pens was made use of by ad venturous spectators, as an impro Vl T e 4 g n ? de d rf a trotted, then cantered round the ring; adults first, then children on ponies, wmners m then events. Then the pipe band led on the dignified progress of sedatelystepping draught horses, followed by the cattle, less conscious of their distinction. It was a parade of aU the best that the country could show the town, in horsemanship and the breeding Of fine beasts. ... The people made the test of their day. Cattle, sheep, and pigs did not endure, .as on judging day, the appraising expert scrutiny of farmers. They faced new visitors, many oi whom could not appreciate the reason for the distinctions of red or blue tickets and championship ribbons. Many of these visitors entered the stock pens, as it were, to laugh but remained to admire. They'found something in the bund and demeanour of a champion bull which compelled admiration —even though this was confined in one instance to speculation on what might be the result “if he got loose in the garden.” The Children’s Pleasure Children had their fill of strange coloured confections, sideshows, and celluloid “windmills.” While the parade was on there .was much clamouring to be “on daddy’s shoulders,” while daddy made the best of it. Small boys with their passion “to see the wheels go round” went wide-eyed among the farm implements, or made themselves happily giddy on the merry-go-rounds. The children also studied the animals with grave interest. Though they were in charge of their parents, it seemed likely that many of the parents were actually taken to the show by small sons and daughters. So it continued through the day and into the evening, when lights and cool air refreshed tiring eyes and feet. The Royal Show came to a merry end of its short life. The old trailers bumped over the points again; in trains of two and three they snaked homeward, leaving lastly a littered ground and empty booths. The show had had its day and the people were satisfied with theirs.