The Tasmanian weather lived up to its reputation at Agfest with patrons experiencing everything from the frosty mornings through to sunshine, rain and of course mud.
Coming only nine months after the last Agfest, this year saw a busy three days with ? visitors coming through the gates.
According to some people, Agfest would not be complete without some rain and many chose to enjoy the field days wearing gumboots.
Saturday’s forecast of sunshine and big crowds saw an impressive 22, 000 people head through the gates, making it the biggest day of the event.
While overall crowd numbers fell short of the 60,000 organisers were hoping for, Agfest chairman Caine Evans said the rain did not dampen the numbers over the three days, with people from across the state turning out in droves to attend.
“It was just an absolutely excellent weekend,” he said.
“Our 550 exhibitors were really happy which is great to hear.”
This year also saw some high-profile visitors attend.
“We’ve had some VIPs come through as well. With Karoline Kennedy a United States Ambassador come to visit us, Peter Dutton with the Federal Labour Leaders came as well which was fantastic and also David Littleproud who’s the leader of the National party,” Mr Evans said.
“It’s great to see Agfest on the political stage and having that involvement.”
Mr Evans said, considering it had not been a full year since the last Agfest in August, the turnout was as they expected.
“We were really happy with that number because as we know the economy is not as strong as it was nine months ago,” he said.
“So, we’re really happy that Tasmanians have come out to support us. A lot of our sponsors were really happy and the feedback from exhibitors was just fantastic.”
Mr Evans said exhibitors reported there were also some benefits from having slightly lower numbers this year.
“They had a lot more time to talk and connect with their customers and patrons because there wasn’t quite the jampacked site that we would normally have,“ he said.
“There was also a lot of follow up sales from tractor companies so that was great.”
The 43 committee members and 100 volunteers managed to pull off another successful Agfest and planning the next one on May 2 to May 4 2024 will get underway soon.
“We were absolutely pumped about how it all went,” Mr Evans said.
“Yes of course there’s some tight heads from the weekend but other than that we are so happy with how the event has turned out,”
While Agfest in the paddock has ended, Agfest cloud is still open online with hundreds of exhibitors continuing to offer great deals until May 12.
Mr Evans said he would like to extend his appreciation to this year’s committee and the volunteers for all their hard work.