Show ends in festive chaos

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33450, 4 February 1974, Page 1

Show ends in festive chaos

(By

JOHN COLLINS)

| The amicable Tenth Agricultural and Pastoral Show, really lived up to , its name on Saturday as Spencer’s Gully domain, for ! 10 days a boiling cauldron of competition, became a I rose bowl of good will, a I loving cup of friendliness, j and farmers from more I than seven districts joined ! in a closing ceremony that j will be remembered as one of the most joyous, spontaneous and puerile in the history of cultivation. The true spirit of inter-dis-trict farming shone through as all joined in “Old Lamb Side.” the Gully anthem, “Love Me Or Leave Me," and, along with chairman Ron Stock-and-station-agent. sang a rousing chorus of the show

!organising committee’s theme! (song, “Junta Gather.” Twenty-five patches of dry! tussock were ceremonially. fired, Duke Ellington was released into the air, and in the centre of the arena five . million dollars arranged themselves into the shape of a white elephant. The traditional challenge at the entrance to the domain began the formal proceedings. . As Duke Ellington ap- : proached, the Maori gate- ; keeper shouted and waved his ■ J fists, and then threw some- : '(thing on the ground. 11 Mr Ellington stepped for- : 3 ( ward and bent to pick up his j tickets and some change, and : the Maori gatekeeper re- i I treated to join some of his:, L companions, temporary car it ? I park attendants, and they all il r imoved off, shouting and hop-is

!ping from one foot to the, I other. i The gaily-dressed crowd, wearing only the lightest of waders, trail bikes glinting in the sun, gave a great reception to the Red Army Band( and Godfried Bormann’s per--forming sheep as they gave a' display of complicated foot-1 work and military two-tooths. ( But the real excitement! began with the arrival of! Anatole Kleb, millionaire raconteur and wit, whose performance in the sack race led the Reader’s Digest magazine to publish an article, “The Most Forgettable Person I Have Ever Met.” As Kleb’s gleaming 70stone ewe drove sedately around the Chiffon track, the: crowd rose to its feet and ! ltried to catch a glimpse of! him through his darkened! spectacles. i

•, And what magnificent spectacles! Kleb was wearing a fragile velvet Empress line j frock, floral patterned in a j delicate tracery of purples . and greens, glistening with I i sequins and lurex. His huge J waistline was highlighted by Ja diamante belt, its pattern (echoed in embroidery on the j high ruffled neckline and (jbias-cut skirt. He wore little [(jewellery, but on his head perched a rhinestone studded ; tuatara, sparkling in the I light of popping flashbulbs. The spontaneous, light- , hearted parade of competi- • tors was an entertaining display of looting, plunder and ■ carnage as dozens of farm-' ' ers circled th'e track, club-! ijbing officials, tieing up I'guests, and squirting elder-: ■ berry con came at the: I ! crowd. The occasion was I only slightly marred by the.

t regrettable behaviour of the! ; Kaiapoi team, which marched i i solemnly around the ground! i to the tune of “Mens Sana! > In Corpore Sano.” i Why this team, so successi ful in stealing Red Army 1 Bandsmen’s caps in the rei hearsals of the spontaneous ! procession, should have let i everyone down is one of the • mysteries of the show. ' Fortunately, Constable I Glistenin Pate, flushed by his ! success in finding the 150 missing spectators safe at I ■ home watching television, had decided to impose a com-1 pulsory mardi gras on the' 1 Gully, and he sat listening to; (popular music and dreaming! of shoplifting as the bands--i men carrying the Gully horse! blanket were stripped naked by hysterica! competitors in ■ the best traditions of farm-] :.ing. 1

| His security squad memibers, transistors plugged into their ears, watched benignly as crazed farmers clambered over Duke Ellington’s armoured personnel carrier and sauna as it toured the ground, mechanical arms waving steadily. Finally came the glorious moment when Sir Alexandrine Gross, chairman of the federation, handed the horse blanket to the Beadle of the IGully (Sir V. G. Pickwick), (and asked him to tell “his : successor in office” to bring (it to the eleventh show at Edgebaston, Albert Memorial, jin 1978. ! Strangely, the crowd, led [by Sir Ron Stock-and-station- ' agent laughed and cheered at this point. ( Surely, this is no laugh•ing matter.