Brendan Smyth, Competition Director; Martin Tynan, Glanbia Ingredients Ireland Ltd.; Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine Tom Hayes; Colin O’Brien, Operations Director Diageo Spirits Ireland; and Mary Gaynor, Secretary of the Virginia Show Committee.
The Virginia Show was officially launched over the weekend, with MEP Mairead McGuinness and Jim Harrison from the Irish Shows Association on hand to officiate.
The 73rd Virginia Agricultural Show will take place on August 20 and will have almost 500 classes for livestock, farm and garden produce as well as home industries and arts & crafts.
Speaking at the launch, Mairead commended the committee on its annual show, the ‘can do’ attitude and the need to ‘rev the thing up for ourselves’. Mairead praised the Show Committee on its continued efforts to get better and better every year.
Jim Harrison, President of the Irish Shows Association, echoed this and said that the Virginia Show had remained innovative and was constantly coming up with new ideas and this year was no exception he said, with the newly erected Events Centre settled neatly on the Showgrounds. He also spoke about the importance of developing shows and how cross border co-operation is key.
He also stressed the need to be competitive because of economies of scale on the global market. He commended the Virginia Agricultural Show as a renowned event with visitors from all over Ireland travelling to Cavan each August.