New Zealand A&P Show General Manager Tracy Ahern says shearing’s a crowd pleaser next year the NZ A&P would like to get some funding to build a purpose built shearing facility.

“Everyone wants to watch the shearing  because it’s great entertainment. I love it because  it’s diverse in so many ways, you’ve got every age group, you’ve got every sex, you’ve got every colour, you’ve got everything thrown into a bag and everybody just has a good time.”

Plus, everyone’s competing. “I think it talks to the heart of our own ethos. And of course sheep is what we do and sheep is what we love and again – highlighting sheep any time that we can. The New Zealand wool industry has been struggling so any time that we get a chance to promote it and we show it at its best we love to do that.”

There’s a lot of passion to lot of passion to deliver this year’s show, Adern says.

“I think that people do not realise that we’ve got this gem right in the heart of Christchurch and we want to share. We’ve spent the last two years beautifying it and it’s time to share. The other great thing is that the trees have really grown in the last few years and when this year people come to the park it’s got a lot of shade, it’s looking beautiful and we’re looking forward to sharing it,” she says.