Tractors and Sheep All Day: The Selwyn Spring Show Has It All and More

Sheep Shearing Competition at the Selwyn Spring Show
Photos by Erin Grigson

The Band Perry sings, "Walk me down the middle of the county fair." The Selwyn Spring Show is as close as New Zealand gets to a fair.

Every October, the Selwyn District comes together to show off its best, well, everything.

This little lambie was so excited to have me pet him.
Photos by Erin Grigson

I've discussed previously that New Zealand is incredibly focused on agriculture. This show lets people from a handful of small towns that make up the district compete across multiple categories. So. many. categories.

Similar to a county fair, there was ice cream, rides, animals, and a talent show.

Unlike a fair, there were unique competitions for sheep shearing, wood chopping, highland dancing, and more.

And then there were the sheep. They. were. everywhere They were led about on leashes (leads here) like you would walk your dog.

The theme of the show this year was "Where Town Meets Country," so the artwork, baked goods, and Wearable Arts Show were all centered on that idea and many of the entries hit the nail on the head.



Highland dancing competitors
Photos by Erin Grigson

As soon as we got there, we saw the highland dancing. Actually, we heard it before we saw it. The bagpiper played the same song for every 3 dancers. But watching the girls dance and balance and turn was definitely a new experience. More on the bagpipes to come.
We got to the show early to see the sheep shearing. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Places all around where we live open their farms up to tourists and city folks so they can see what shearing is really like. I've been wanting to see this for myself, but I don't want to feel like a tourist or pay the money since we know some people here who have sheep.

The show seemed like a perfect way for me to experience the shearing without all the other stuff. And I could take as many pictures as I wanted.

We watched 2 different competitions, one team and one  shearers only. In teams, there's the shearer and a roustabout or "rousy." (The rousy can also be called a wool classer if they work more with the wool after the initial shearing.)

The shearers had to shear 2 sheep while the rousy separates the wool into different piles. Each pile can be used for different things. The rousy also helps keep the wool out of the shearer's way while shearing. The rousy is judged by the wool being in the correct pile. The shearer is judged by the lack of cuts on the sheep and the evenness of the shorn sheep. The team together is also timed.


In the Shearing team competition, the shearer cuts the wool and the rousy
clears and classes the wool.
Photos by Erin Grigson

The wood chopping went by
incredibly fast, but it was
definitely worth watching.
Photos by Erin Grigson

While I found the shearing interesting and I'm glad I saw it, once was enough.

From the shearing shed, we went to see the wood flying. And I'm glad we got there when we did. Wood chopping is so fast, if you blink you'll miss it.





But it was really impressive. For some of the axemen, it didn't even take a minute to chop through the log. I can't imagine how sharp the blades were to do that.
And surprisingly, it seemed like there was more of a science to it than I thought. The axemen chalked up the log after measuring it to get the most out of every swing. It seemed like only a few seconds before the logs were turned to wood chips.

Since the wood chopping went by quickly, we headed to the Wearable Arts Show.

In my previous post, Nothing to Do In Nelson?? Let Me Be Your Guide Part III, I talked about our trip to the WOW (World of Wearable Arts).

The Wearable Arts Show at the Selwyn Spring Show is a much smaller version of that.

Every single entry into the Wearable Arts Show was well-thought-out and matched the theme. The 3 categories that had entries were Juniors & Youth, Creative Scarecrow, and Wearable Art.

Photos by Erin Grigson

My favorite entry was something called (I think) "Country Traffic." It might have been "Country Traffic Stop," or "Country Traffic Jam." Either way, it was so fitting with traffic lights and a "Cattle Stop" sign, patchwork fields, with sheep and cars on the road.

"Country Traffic" entry in the Wearable Arts Show. It won its category.
Photos by Erin Grigson



David is the trumpet player on the left.
Photos by Erin Grigson

After the Wearable Arts Show, we grabbed lunch and enjoyed the end of the Selwyn's Got Talent Show while waiting to hear the Ellesmere Big Band.

Our friend David played trumpet in the band, so we got to see him perform. The band played various jazz songs, some with a vocalist, some without. At one point, 4-5 women from the band and the community came up and did some 4-part harmony with the ensemble.

Having finished our lunch, we walked through the flower, food and art exhibits.

There were the cakes that had high heels and gumboots. They had skyscrapers and fences. They had cars and farm animals. Needless to say, they were impressive.


Some of the cakes that were based on the
"Where Town Meets Country" theme.
Photos by Erin Grigson

My favorite cake was the 2-tiered cake with farm animals on top. So cute.

I also loved that the show gave schoolchildren an opportunity to exhibit their work. There were beehive mobiles and hot air balloon sculptures. There was 3D paper art and plate art. And more incrEDIBLE: food art.

And. more. sheep.
As we left the exhibits, I saw someone carrying a little lambie like a lapdog. It was wearing a fleece jacket and had a leash on. I desperately wanted to hold it, but didn't ask. However, the owner did let me get a photo of her holding her pet lamb.

So. adorable.

Since I didn't get to hold that lamb, we went over to the sheep pens and I got to love on one special lamb that baa'd at me over and over until I pet it.

On the left is the owner and the cute little pet lamb. Center shows just how many sheep there were. It seemed to never end.
On the right, is a sheep who was trying to escape.
Photos by Erin Grigson

I could have stayed there all day, but we wanted to get in place to watch the Grand Parade.




The Grand Parade was filled to the brim with bagpipes, people, animals, cars,
trucks, tractors, machinery and more.
Photos by Erin Grigson

On our way to the parade route, we walked by the pipe band and listened to them practicing for the parade, which they lead.While waiting for the parade to start, we saw the end of the horses' jumping competitions.

Finally, it was time to see the parade. All day, I had been hearing about the parade. But this is not your normal down-Main-Street Christmas Parade. This was the Selwyn Spring Show Grand Parade. It was... unique.

First, came the pipe band. Then, the animals. Then the cars and trucks and machinery and tractors. So many tractors. It's like what your normal parades have in fire trucks. But more. Way more. Apparently this year the parade was different because of a couple reasons.

First, there's usually quite a bit of cattle included in the animal part of the parade. However, New Zealand has been plagued this year with a disease that severely effects cattle, to the point that when they get it, they have to be killed to keep it from spreading.

So in an effort to keep the disease from spreading across more farms, there were no cattle involved at the show at all. That would have left a very large hole in the parade. However, this year is 100 years of John Deere, so they made up for the lack of cattle with loads of tractors. It worked alright, I guess.

And with the parade, the show day was over. It was definitely a new experience and I really did have fun.

On to the next adventure!