The show must go on, as the saying goes — but that’s not to say it doesn’t change with the times.
Since its inception in 1840, the Royal Adelaide Show has endured through world wars and ever-changing financial environments.
An overhead view of this year’s show at the Wayville showgrounds. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)
But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible to be nostalgic for a bygone time when a ride on a penny-farthing cost somewhere between a farthing and a penny.
“We try to keep costs down as much as we can,” Royal Adelaide and Horticultural Society archivist Jade Hastings said.
“But we also try to make sure that the Adelaide Show is a bigger and better event every single year and that we’re providing as much entertainment for families as we can.”
Some may wish show prices were back at 1960s figures. (ABC News)
In the early 1850s, admission cost a “shilling for an adult, and sixpence for a child”.
“You would get a sample bag for about threepence in the 1920s, working up to sort of sixpence for the more expensive ones,” Dr Hastings said.
“Unfortunately, as inflation goes on in the world, chocolate bars become more expensive and then the expensive chocolate bar in the showbag makes the showbag more expensive by proxy.
“[But] you can still get free individual samples at the show even today.”
An archival photo of the Royal Adelaide Show from the 1960s. (ABC News)
‘Pick and choose’
Videos from the ABC archive don’t go back quite as far as the 1920s, but they still shed light on times when prices for things like showbags and rides seemed more affordable.
One image, for example, from sideshow alley in the 1960s reveals something called “The Mexican Hat Ride” which cost 20c.
The Mexican Hat Ride cost 20c. (ABC News)
Admission to the show was then likely to set an adult back by 60c.
At the time a loaf of bread cost 18 pence.
By the mid-1980s, the price of a Ferris wheel ride had risen to $2.
In that era, a loaf of bread cost 54 cents.
Show-goers who the ABC spoke to marvelled at some of the prices from way back.
“It’s good to teach the kids how to save and budget, they’ve brought along some of their own pocket money,” Carissa Neate-Lanners said this week.
“It is expensive, but we do it once every couple of years,” Corey Lanners said.
Jess and Hayden Buckham and family at the Royal Adelaide Show. (ABC News)
“You have to pick and choose what you do and limit how many rides they’re going to go on and not go too crazy on the showbags,” Hayden Buckham said.
“There’s definitely lots you can do for free,” Jess Buckham added.
Dr Hastings pointed to main arena events, the wood chopping competition and animal displays — all of which are included in the entry price.
Spending on novelties is itself something of a novelty — when the show was first held, trinkets and thrills were hardly at the forefront of the minds of organisers.
“Those early shows, they were focused completely around produce and livestock,” Dr Hastings said.
An archival photo from 1986 showing people lining up for a ride that cost $2. (ABC News)
“You get a lot of reports [from the early days] of children at the show enjoying themselves, checking out exhibits of farm machinery and things like that.
“As the colony grew to have a bigger population interested in attending public events, they added a second day to the show — so it was always just one day … [but] then they added a fair day.”
Showbag pedigree
For many young show-goers, the main attraction is the showbags.
The show bag pavilion in 1995 showing the sale of Bertie Beetle show bags. (ABC News)
They might seem like a relatively recent addition, but they have a pedigree, even if they’ve evolved a great deal.
Dr Hastings said the modern showbag was an updated version of the sample bag, which dated back to early show times.
“They could get a free bag of coal as a tester, and so that’s the earliest sample bag that we’re aware of,”
she said.
It wasn’t long before businesses sensed commercial opportunity.
“They would hand out little free product samples to encourage people to test their wares and then hopefully buy them outside of the show,” Dr Hastings said.
“A lot of it was for medication, or hair products, perfume, things like cornstarch, baby powder.”
To make their samples more alluring, vendors started adding toys such as paper crowns and yo-yos.
Bertie Beetle is a mainstay of the Showbag Pavillion at the Royal Adelaide Show. (Supplied: Facebook)
The trend caught on.
While some things change, others do not.
The Bertie Beetle remains the most affordable option at $5, with the most expensive showbags sitting at $55 each.
