A popular contest will be short and sharp at the 2021 Regional Australia Bank Dubbo Show because of COVID-19 and last year's bushfire disaster on the NSW South Coast.
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Dubbo Show Society secretary Sue Hood reports that the woodchopping competition will only run for a day.
"They only allow so many in the arena at any one time and they can't get the timber for the competition," she said.
"It was all burnt in the fires down south last year."
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Dubbo Show Society is facing "some challenges" in preparing for its show on May 14,15 and 16 this year.
The 2020 show had to be abandoned because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the society's long-standing secretary reports of excitement within the society for the 2021 event which will be run in accordance with a COVID-19 safety plan.
"We're looking forward, we're not looking back and we're not looking at maybe," Mrs Hood said.
She is confident that a two-year gap between shows will make attendance at the 2021 version a must for people in Dubbo and across the region.
"I think people will be looking to come to the show this year," she said.
Mrs Hood thinks they will also be ready and able to enter competitions because of time at home during the pandemic.
"People have started to grow vegetables again," she said.
"They are sewing. They are cooking. So I think we will have a good display in our pavilions."
The three-day show traditionally attracts about 20,000 people who in 2021 will have to be registered with 123 Tix, including children who are under five and are not charged to enter the show.
Mrs Hood said currently regional show numbers were "uncapped" but people attending them had to stay two square metres apart "if they are not family".
She said hand sanitising stations would be established at Dubbo Showground including its entry points.
The state's Commissioner of Resilience, former NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, will open the 2021 show on May 15 when "first responders" will be acknowledged.
The society is currently accepting applications from commercial stall holders to fill 72 spaces in the Ray Clarke pavilion.
With support from Dubbo City Toyota, it is raffling a Toyota Hilux, with all profits going to the staging of the show. Visit www.rafflelink.com.au/dubbo-show-society
The raffle will be drawn on the last day of the show.