November 6th, 2025Calling all competitors
Who doesn’t love a competition? Well, the Daylesford Show, on Saturday, November 22, has hundreds of them.
Daylesford & District Agricultural Society committee member Mary Harvey said the competitions covered a broad range of interests, levels of expertise and age levels, from pre-school to adult.
“Traditional animal competitions include chooks, horses, sheep and dogs. Our dog competition is the biggest in country Victoria, with around 400 dogs. Last year, for the first time, we had gypsy cobs, which were very popular.”
Mary said the homecrafts competitions ranged from farm and garden produce, flowers and floral art, cookery, crafts such as knitting, crochet, spinning and weaving, arts and crafts, patchwork, sewing and embroidery, leatherwork, metalwork, woodwork, ceramics and photography.
“The cookery competition features a bloke’s chocolate cake. This is our one men-only competition but men are eligible to enter all cookery and other competitions. Last year the winner and runner-up of the regional VAS rich fruit cake were men.”
Mary said winners of Victorian agricultural show competitions go on to regional competitions. If they win there they go on to the Melbourne Royal Show. In 2024 four winners at Daylesford went on to win first prizes at the Melbourne Royal.
“There are similar competitions for juniors, with no entry fees and substantial prizes. A feature of our junior competitions is a colouring competition with three different age groups. There is also a cup and a sash for the best junior exhibit. There is a sash and a $50 prize for the best school display.”
Mary said all the competition details were available at www.daylesfordshow.com or from various locations in Daylesford, Creswick and Trentham. Copies have been left at libraries, Bendigo banks and information centres.
There will be displays at the last two locations next week. Entries are due in by Friday, November 16. A very popular addition last year was a colouring competition for juniors and entries from schools and libraries in this year’s colouring competitions will be collected in the week that entries are due.
2024 Daylesford Show | Images: Tommy Campion
