Share your great memories from the Royal Adelaide Show with us

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For some young kids the show is all about the showbags and rides, and while I enjoyed unwrapping a Bertie Beetle or filling my Yellow Brick Road show bag with local produce, for me it was the cattle sheds.

It is probably no surprise to many that I inherited this infectious enthusiasm for the show from my mother Rosemary.

She has attended every Adelaide show since she was seven years old, except for 1981 the year my brother was born.

For many years Mum helped prepare and show Shorthorn, Poll Hereford and Angus cattle and now considers the Adelaide Show her "second home" from being a steward in the Shorthorn judging to watching the beef cattle junior handlers competition where we donate the Miller Family Trophy.

But my own wonderful childhood memories of the Royal Adelaide Show stretch back close to 40 years.

They include sitting in the members grandstand watching the Holden cars rip up the main arena and their death defying cross over, to the fireworks spectacular where the crowd would be yelling blue or yellow to see which colour lit up the night sky most.

There was also my first grand parade holding on for dear life to a Murray Grey calf on the main arena as the West End Clydesdales pounded past on the trotting track and the prized hacks pranced around the inside of the cattle procession.

Even my first journalism experience was at the show, reading the ABC news with now-retired broadcaster Jan Springett.

Another very vivid memory is lining up and putting my gold coin in the donation box for the Womens and Childrens Hospital at the door to the 1989 Merino ram sale.

Little did I know, but as a 10-year-old, I was about to witness history.

Amid the sea of tweed coats and well-heeled women it was difficult to see Elders auctioneer Tony Wetherall but I remember the air of excitement as the bids rose to $450,000 for a ram from the Collinsville stud.

Its funny how life turns out with many of those same breeders and agents at the Adelaide sale last year when as a Stock Journal journalist I got to report on 'Smithy', a ram from Glenlea Park stud, cracking $100,000.

The Adelaide Show also fostered my competitive nature and I remember like it was yesterday the elation at winning prizes for my chocolate cakes and jubilee cakes in the junior cookery.

The excitement of winning the beef cattle junior paraders competition a couple of times are also cherished memories but something that I will always remember is my first broad ribbon as a cattle exhibitor when my Shorthorn bull Battunga Statesman won reserve junior champion.

The 2006 show stands out as one of my favourites when as a state rural ambassador finalist I had a backstage pass to the running of the state's largest annual event.

I thought that I had covered most corners of the showgrounds in my time, but how wrong I was.

That year over three wonderful days I met so many of the extended show family from the carnival operators to the main arena announcer and show archivist and even sashed the champion Labrador.

The Royal Adelaide Show is no doubt where my love of agriculture, and particularly livestock, was nurtured and I still count myself lucky every year as I open my notebook that as Stock Journal's livestock editor I am paid to document the show successes with our great team of journalists.

Before my Stock Journal days a great part of the show was always socialising with the other young cattle breeders.

I do miss having a beer or two at the Heavy Horse bar after judging, watching the crowds below or champion David Foster wielding an axe at the log chopping, instead I'm often writing until the early hours of the morning.

But it is all worth it to see our comprehensive coverage of the show and great show editions we produce every year.

One of the biggest blows I see this year with no show will be the missed opportunity to educate people, both young and old, about the importance of agriculture and how their food is produced.

As a young cattle exhibitor it was always interesting to sit on the show box watching the public walking through the sheds, often desperate to pat a young calf or frustratingly often a parent telling their child that a bull was a cow.

Even last year as I rushed through the Agricultural Learning Centre back from the office to the Merino judging I remember seeing the look on a young boy's face as he held a baby kid for the first time.

That moment cemented for me the crucial role the show has in bringing the city and country together.

I am sure the Adelaide Show will be back bigger and better in 2021 and I'll be there waiting for the gates to open.