FOLLOWING last week’s government announcement that agricultural shows had joined the list of permitted events, organisers of the Devon County Show are pleased to announce that tickets are now on sale for 2021 event.
This year the ever-popular agricultural show has moved from its normal mid-May slot to the beginning of July, and now starts on a Friday (July 2) and closes on the Sunday (July 4).
Devon County Show manager Sam Mackenzie Green is delighted at the news.
‘It’s a great relief to be able to now plan with confidence for our 125th show and to ensure, after its absence last year, it will be truly one to remember,’ she said.
‘We will, of course, continue to liaise rigorously with East Devon District Council to ensure that the show will operate in line with government recommendations for staging outdoor events.
‘Whilst we are confident of bringing a fantastic Show, the safety of our visitors and show team is absolutely paramount in our planning.
There will be a number of measures in place to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 but the Show will remain the Devon County Show that we know and love with the majority of our regular features going ahead as usual.’
Tickets this year are available only from the show’s website, and to keep a strict eye on numbers at the Westpoint site over the three days site they may be subject to availability, so the advice is to book early.
More of the show will be staged outdoors this year
including food and drink and crafts and gardens features. Food outlets will be dispersed around the showground, rather than concentrated in one place, which will enable more space for socially distanced queuing and seating.
Over the Easter period the show team conducted a survey with their database of previous visitors to ask them how they felt about staging a Devon County Show this year.
‘The results were overwhelmingly positive,’ continued Sam.
‘Out of over 2,700 responses we found that 90% of respondents are either likely or very likely to attend this year’s show, 92.5% are confident that we will put on a show that’s safe for visitors and 85% will purchase their tickets in advance to help with monitoring numbers.’
Shopping at show is one of the event’s key attractions and Sam added that they have had a great response from traders already but still have space in some areas.
‘We are confident that with the latest easing of restrictions we will have a further surge of enquiries,’ she said.
‘If there are any traders out there who still need convincing, our survey also revealed that 98.5% of respondents are likely or more than likely to purchase something from a trade stand at this year’s show. And you don’t get better than that!’
Tickets for the 2021 Devon County Show can be booked at www.devoncountyshow.co.uk
and trade stand enquiries can be made at www.devoncountyshow.co.uk/trade-stands