Back in early July 2024, my daughter, Kate rang me while I was still in sleep mode. She is the Chief Steward – Fine & Creative Art Section for the upcoming Canungra Show these past few years and with the new $800K pavilion currently being built she wants my advice on how to obtain a multi-purpose display unit for some of the arts entries. Being not fully awake I said I’ll have a think about what can be achieved. Lol!!!

The old, convoluted display panels are totally unsuitable for the new building area and Kate hasn’t found anything that would suit. She will hire the other display units to handle the bulk of the special entries. I submitted my design to Kate & ultimately the committee and within a day had the approval to proceed through the Canungra Show Committee direct funding, so I had best get moving fast.

Suffice to say, I managed to get all the materials to suit the grant’s legal requirements, fully aware of the insane & frequent price increases currently happening post-COVID. I was happy to donate my time & travel to complete the project as well. I co-ordinated my visit with the materials to Kate & her husband, Jason who had a few days off to assist me. We worked well together & managed in a few days to have it ready for transporting & installation once the pavilion is completed. I also did a video on how to put the display together seeing that I live about 3hrs drive away. The panels can form a 3.6m x 0.8m rectangle or be opened up as a 6m room divider.

In a blink, the show was upon us 24^th August 2024, and finding out Kate was needing more volunteers with the arts show and under a good deal of stress. I was planning a few days prior to surprise her with my attendance but was warned to let her know immediately, & that was very good advice I took up.

The pavilion was completed by a young local builder and was handed over to the Show Committee just a week prior to the show. Upon my arrival on Friday 23^rd August, some of the setup was done and painters were still on-site. Jason had erected our display unit the day prior when the other hired 6m x 2.4m high display units arrived. Now it was a matter of hanging up the huge volume of numerous art categories, even down to the junior colouring in contest (4-6yrs, 5-10yrs & 11-12yrs) Kate had arranged with a possum drawing. The pavilion will be named The Possum Hut – Fine Arts Pavilion.

Us volunteers had to arrange multiple times to accommodate the artwork as the rolling in of entries came through till 4pm Friday closing, with judging starting at 6pm sharp. Kate & some volunteers started the last 2 days at 6am, leaving well into the night, such was the volume of work required. Once the judging was finished the winners of each category was relocated to the winner sections and presented in readiness for the public viewing on the Saturday show day, 24^th. Most of us left at 11pm & will return 6am again for the show day. I was amazed as to how many categories there were.

For those unaware of Canungra, it is a little township in the Qld Scenic Rim Region in the Valley of the Owls, just below the more famous Mt Tambourine area (mountain range due west of the Gold Coast) & the gateway to the very famous Lamington National Park with a population of approx. 1,450 people & growing & noted as a “small town with a big heart”. The Canungra Show is preceded by their huge rodeo and that is usually a sold-out event within days. Canungra was founded in the 1880s, firstly for sawmilling. The township is heavily heritage listed and quite unique and several movies have been undertaken there, one just recently.

The township is heavily sought, mostly on weekends by casual bike riders, stopping mostly at the Outpost Café whilst riding the various mountain ranges roadways. Paragliders, hang gliders regularly fly over the township from the nearby mountain tops & with the abundance of wildlife & nature walks many nature lovers are never left disappointed. The paragliders and hang gliders were in full swing above the showground, landing across the other side of the Canungra Creek.

Now it is Show Day (Saturday), & there is a population explosion entering the showgrounds & virtually everyone visiting is unaware of the new pavilion building and are overcome with seeing such great improvements made. The Fine Arts display is in full viewing, and the public love what they are seeing from local artists of all ages and their abilities. The volunteers do have some joy though, in getting the visitors to do a People’s Choice submission which throws them into a bit of a spin picking out just one entry as their show choice. I really struggled too in making my choice. All artist’s signatures & identification were obviously covered so judging was totally honest including the volunteer artists were away from the judging.

After the judging, myself, Kate & her family were thrilled to see one of Kate’s daughters win First Place & Youth Champion Award for her woodwork entry of a hallway table cabinet. Hannah was reluctant to enter, upon her opinion of low confidence but folded under some pressure. We were all so thrilled but had to keep the secret from Hannah for 24hrs & that’s tough! Her response & action when seeing the awards was priceless to say the least! Hannah’s older sister, Natahlia didn’t enter when I asked her due to having nothing current in her words. Natahlia’s drawing talents are beyond belief and such a shame she presented nothing for viewers to be amazed upon. Hopefully she will next year. In setting up all the displays on the Friday, Kate was asked to bring some of her artwork to fill in the blank outer walls, so it was mad rush for Jason to head quickly home. What a great decision that was and it really gave a full-on vibe to the entire pavilion & the feedback from viewers on the Saturday was amazing and we were constantly explaining they were only displays, not entries.

The fat cattle judging was done on the Monday before and Saturday Show Day were the horse dressage, show jumping and dog show. One young lady rider, I believe in her early twenties won the show jumping on Show Day and then was able to tell the audience she was told a couple of years ago when in a wheelchair after a horse riding accident she would not ride again. What a remarkable achievement.

With a few breaks on the Saturday, Kate & family with a few volunteers went to the official opening of the show and to see some presentations. The speeches were very well done, short, accurate and just like a country gathering. The national anthem was sung by a local girl and was pleasing to see most of the people proudly stood & sung too.

One of the surprising presentations was to a local lady, named Averil who is now 91yrs old & has been at every Canungra Show since 1938, the very first Canungra Show & was awarded a special Qld Community Show Award for her participation, previous show awards & amazing community service to the show. Do the maths and that means she started competing & attending since she was 5yrs old & not missing one since. The applause was very welcomed, and Avery’s response was obviously “thank you”; but with the inference of continuing for more show days. God bless her.

Another break was to view the motorcycle stunt riders that gave me chills and later, the firework display. When the public viewing was completed around 7pm we took down all the entries and placed them in alphabetical order on tables, along with the respective award certificates, ribbons, ready for the artist’s collection Sunday morning. Jason & I compiled all the People’s Choice entries to determine that winner in time for the certificates to be applied. By the time we all completed our tasks ready for the Sunday, we arrived home at 11pm again. Kate will be up at the pavilion at 6am on Sunday to start the processes off with a show convenor. As you can tell, that is a huge workload, commitment, stress with little sleep and respite for Kate & all the Fine Arts volunteers.

As a volunteer team it was clearly evident everyone worked as a committed team and when things changed, as with almost certainty, there was no push back or complaints thrown about. Such a wonderful community team and a pleasure to be involved in. Even as the newbie, I was readily accepted and given some tasks to undertake. All hands on deck! Kate was like a pinball in a pinball machine, being the main decision maker and facilitator making sure the entire pavilion presented well to the public. Kate & Connie also arranged for the local nursery & Lydia’s Garden to provide numerous leafy green plants to provide that natural look and engage another community hall to provide the high number of tables and chairs required for the pavilion and the volume of entries.

Kate was also a major sponsor of some youth categories and provided art supplies & a small easel for prizes from her company, Katahlia Arts which is well worth looking up. Kate’s display paintings she provided also showed her diversity on paint subjects (planes, cows, abstract, animals) and paint fluids (oil, acrylic, etc). The 93cm x 93cm Face of the Highland Cow Kate painted for Hannah’s bedroom was a huge favourite and lots of feedback followed. People were extra keen to buy it. Kate also painted Jason’s plane (large canvas) he learnt to fly in & is proudly hanging in his men’s shed (garage). No doubt he looks at this every time he goes flying.

The preceded months work doesn’t show clearly either, but I learnt so much had to be done to pull this show off so successfully. A father showing how much pride in his daughter cannot be truly measured I feel, for the level is enormously high. This will be Kate’s last year facilitating this art show, as the workload greatly interferes with her Arts Degree at university & family life.

I was feeling the draining energy levels in helping with what I could do for the show, so I don’t know how Kate & the rest of the volunteers managed their energy levels over an extended time than I. I was thrilled to be a part of it and see such a great result for the show and the Canungra community. Hope you like the photos and commentary of a little country show with a big heart.

Note: All photos are copyright to bhlifestyles.travel.blog