By Helen Martin
Photos: Ian Baker
With last year’s A&P Show cancelled, a cyclone potentially turning up and rain in the early morning, the organising committee must have had a few anxious moments, but happily the weather gods were in a generous mood on Feb 23 and we were all able to enjoy the day in our own way. We met a couple, on holiday from England, who’d called in their way to Dargaville when they saw “something happening” by the road out of town. We always go to the Helensville A&P Show, so seeing it through their new eyes was interesting – they’d never seen anything like it, and were very impressed and very envious. Highlights for me included the Helensville Volunteer Fire Brigade’s jaws of life demonstration, The Groove diggers’ Doobie Brothers tribute and the indoor produce, photography and historical society 
displays. The fact that no-one seemed to take the World War II Battle re-enactment seriously – the crowd cheered and clapped every time someone ‘died’ – was an indication of the atmosphere of good humour that ran through the day. The only disappointment was that the ‘food and wine from around our region’ translated into average food and no wine or beer, while the Show organisers, fenced off from the rest of us just feet away, appeared amply supplied.
