Following the postponement of the 2024 Gorey Agricultural Show in June, organisers have now announced that the show will not go ahead this year as no suitable alternative date could be found.
The show’s committee announced early last month that the event would be postponed due to difficult ground conditions.
The show, with a schedule of some 300 classes, had been scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 15, at Ashton, Ballycanew, Co. Wexford.
The committee had said it would arrange a new date, but has now confirmed that this has not been possible.
A statement from the committee said: “The Committee of Gorey Agricultural Show have had to make the unenviable decision and cancel our 2024 show. Despite the best efforts of The Irish Shows Association to allocate us a new date, none of the dates were suitable.
“July and August are very busy months for our area and unfortunately we have not been able to find a date that suits everybody,” the committee said.
The organisers also said that most of the shows suppliers are booked-out for the year and most cannot provided new dates for their services as they are fully committed elsewhere.
“It is most unfortunate for all exhibitors and competitors also, as we had a very full schedule of entries, and the Gorey Agricultural Show is the first show for a lot of show people.
Despite the disappointment, the committee said it made “the correct decision on health and safety grounds”.
“This year has been very testing for the farming community. We absolutely could not take any risks with regard to the safety of our competitors, traders, volunteers and our landowners,” it added.
The organisers said: “We would like to thank our sponsors who have stood by us for 2024 and all who had entries for the show, we will be goreyting the refund process shortly. We are hugely grateful to our landowners who have been so obliging over the past month, while we waited to reschedule.”
The committee said that next year’s Gorey Agricultural Show will take place on June 21.