The event of the year in Brisbane - the Ekka! The Brisbane Royal Show, or as its better and more fondly known, the 'Ekka', is such a big event here that people are even granted a day off to attend - and its so big that the day of the week you get to take off depends on whereabouts you live in the region! We went along on the holiday Wednesday 'Peoples Day', along with the majority of the city folks, but the crowds were far more exciting than annoying with a wonderful family vibe. In total 400,000 people attended the week long event. This lovely set of instagram photos 'Ekkagrams' taken at the Ekka 2012 give an impression of the colour and ambience of the place. Here are also a few of the many photos I took on the day, I've made them into a slideshow as it was just too hard to pick out just a couple! You might spot 'can-do Campbell' Newman, the Queensland Premier, singing the national anthem before the final of the Australian Tree Felling Championship! Click the image below to start the show.
The Ekka is city meets country, fairground rides, sheepdog trials, horse parades, strawberry sundaes, dagwood dogs, showbags, exhibitions, farmers market, chariot races, wood chop and so much more... one day was really not enough to see it all and it was totally kitsch, charming and very Australian. Loved it! I hope it keeps its soul when it is 'revitalised' over the coming year. The video below shows both how it is now, and how the developers envision it will become.
I hope your thought about the development keeping its soul eventuates. I suspect history argues against such an outcome!
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Hi Martin, thanks for the comment - I think what will happen to the Ekka just mirrors what is happening across Brisbane, although Ive only been here a year it is clear that this city is undergoing massive change to become a global (mega?) city. I guess as a recent migrant I can't help but be a driver of that change, and feel a little guilty for it! but I'm all for high density housing if it means the city developers stop tearing down habitat for species including the now endangered Koala, but the changes to the character of the city are evident too and there are obvious trade-offs. Australia does seem to me to have something of an obsession with bulldozing old historic places when they get a little shabby around the edges, sadly.
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