Yorke Peninsula Field Days

The Yorke Peninsula Field Days is a biennial, three-day field days event, held on a permanent site outside Paskeville on Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. The event has a major focus on agriculture.[3] The event is the oldest field days event in Australia[4] and one of the biggest,[5] exhibiting millions of dollars' worth of farm machinery.[6]

Yorke Peninsula Field Days
GenreAgricultural field day
BeginsLast Tuesday in September
EndsFollowing Thursday
FrequencyBiennial
Location(s)Bute (1895–1972)
Paskeville (from 1973)
Years active1895–1972 in single-day format, 1973–2019, 2021- in present 3-day format
Inaugurated1895
Previous event24 September 2019 (2019-09-24) - 26 September 2019 (2019-09-26)
Next event28 September 2021 (2021-09-28) - 30 September 2021 (2021-09-30)
Attendance30,000–40,000
Organised byYorke Peninsula Field Days Incorporated
Websitewww.ypfielddays.com.au
Attendance of 40,000 in 2009 was reported by the Stock Journal.[1] The organising body, Yorke Peninsula Field Days Incorporated, claims typical attendance of "up to 30,000."[2]

Description

Nine local branches of the Agricultural Bureau of SA comprise the organising body of the Yorke Peninsula Field Days corporation and their members are totally responsible for the management and organisation of the field day. These bureaus are: Arthurton, Boors Plains, Bute, Cunliffe W.A.B., Moonta, Paskeville, Petersville, Snowtown and South Hummocks.[2]

As of 2006, there is a waiting list for exhibitors to get sites at the Field Days.[7]

The event begins on a Tuesday in late September and finishes the following Thursday, opening at 9 am and closing at 5 pm each day.[3][8] Annual events include sheepdog trials, guest-speakers, wool and sheep displays, including active and static displays, shearing demonstrations, a fashion parade, crafts, and general products[3][9][4][8][10] which were introduced to the Field Days by the Cunliffe Women's Agricultural Bureau. An entrance fee is charged,[3] and a record crowd of 40,000 people gathered for the 2009 field days.[1]

History

The field days began in 1895 as a field trial of agricultural and horticultural implements.[9] The original branches of the Agricultural Bureau of SA that formed the Agricultural Field Trial Society (now Yorke Peninsula Field Days Incorporated) were Arthurton, Bute, Nantawarra (now South Hummocks), Paskeville, Pine Forest and Port Broughton. These branches organised the first Field Trial, as it was then known, at Bute. Until about 1973 only one event, 'Harvester Trials', was held.

From 1973, the Field Trials expanded to more than one day. In 1975 the current permanent site at Paskeville was established,[2] after 67 acres (27 ha) were purchased from Keith Lamming (35 acres for $8000) and Stan Norris (32 acres for $7040) for a total of $15,040 in 1977.[9] The first field days event held at the Paskeville site in 1977 was opened by Sir Thomas Playford, former South Australian Premier.[9] Permanent roads, and some permanent pavilions and sheds, have been built at the site, with the roads being named after the current and past bureaus of the Yorke Peninsula Field Days corporation.[9]

No field days is planned in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dates
  • 2021: 28–30 September[11]
  • 2023: 26–28 September[12]

See also

References
  1. "YP Field Days a huge success". Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  2. "YP Field Days About Us". Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  3. "YORKE PENINSULA FIELD DAYS 2009, PASKEVILLE, AUSTRALIA". Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  4. "It's time again for the YP Field Days". 29 September 2009. Archived from the original on 30 June 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  5. "Big crowd at Paskeville". Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  6. Paskeville Information Archived 15 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Live from Paskeville field day – 25/09/07". Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  8. "South Australia – Yorke Peninsula Field Days 2009". Archived from the original on 15 July 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  9. Penna, Rex (1995). A Century of Field Days. Australia: Peacock Publications. pp. 24–27, 32–35. ISBN 0-909209-87-1.
  10. "YPFD Wool and Sheep". Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  11. "Yorke Peninsula Field Days". Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  12. "YPFD Yorke Peninsula Field Days". Retrieved 30 June 2020.
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