Travel

200-year-old Sydney Royal Easter Show is fun for Aussie youth

The colorful midway at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. (Yuki Wang/YJI)

SYDNEY – This month marked the 200th year of the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Running at Sydney Olympic Park for more than two weeks around the Easter period, the show celebrates Australian culture, providing unique experiences from rural traditions, agriculture and food to playgrounds and midway shows.

First held in 1823, it is now Australia’s largest annual ticketed event. The show is run by the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales, a non-profit organization that has been an influential force in Australian agriculture since 1822.

The Olympic Park showground in Sydney hosted the annual Sydney Royal Easter Show. (Yuki Wang/YJI)

The show is one of the reasons I love celebrating Easter here in Sydney.

Once you walk into the gate, you can see people cramming through the road. Walking through to one of the Ferris wheels, you can see the street food market. My friend and I bought a chip on a stick and lemonade – these are apparently the most famous foods that you need to get!

We wandered around for a while and saw all kinds of cuisines: lamb skewers, dumplings, sushi, hotdogs, burgers, gozleme, churros and so much more.

Next we entered the agricultural section, which is the highlight of the show. As it is a tradition, everyone is able to enjoy agricultural competition, shows and exhibitions.

The woodchopping competition, for example, was held in one of the Olympic Park Stadiums that consists of eight choppers who were throwing themselves into swing their axes with the power that made the trees fall one by one.

Sheepshearing was one of my favorite parts of the Easter show. You can see the process of sheepshearing, with exhibitions and information of how shears are used. 

Sheep are part of the agricultural exhibition. (Yuki Wang/YJI)

As a teen, some of the most exciting parts of the show are the rides. Rainbow super slides, rollercoasters, haunted hotels, dodgem cars, you name it! It is where friends and family can enjoy many rides and play games of shooting basketball hoops, darts and water ducks to win toys and prizes. 

Ferris wheel on the midway. (Yuki Wang/YJI)

A tradition for every family going to the Easter show is collecting the show bags, which vary in size, theme, color and price. Depending on your interest, you can choose from thousands of bags, ranging from children to adults, animates to cartoons, and sweet treats to gift bags.

The range of bags I have seen is crazy. To only name a few, there are Harry Potter, Pikachu, the Aussie’s favorite snacks of Tim Tams, Minecraft dress up, Avengers, Australian Football League team merch and a lot more.

The 200th year of the Sydney Easter Show is over but I can’t wait to be back next year.

If you are ever in Sydney during the Easter Show, definitely remember to visit!

Yuki Wang is a Junior Reporter with Youth Journalism International from Sydney, Australia.

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