Rain-hit show figures ‘amazing’

Spectators braving the rain. Picture by Peter Flemmich.

Royal Welsh Show officials today said attendance figures for this year’s event were “amazing” considering they had two days of torrential rain.

More than 220,000 people flocked to the four-day event at Llanelwedd, in Builth Wells, about 2,000 below the five-year attendance average of 222,278.

Yesterday, the last day, attendance was 47,176 – 6,000 down on 2008.

But David Walters, chief executive of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, said: “The unexpected wet weather on Wednesday did put a dampener on things but we were amazed by how many people turned up.”

Show officials have now revealed plans to look into the use of an artificial surface for next year, which could replace grass in the main ring.

The poor conditions in the ring resulted in cattle being banned from the final show parade yesterday which organisers described as “disappointing.”

Mr Walters added: “A few events had to be cancelled in the main ring this year because of the rain. It is the second time in three years this has caused problems and we are going to have to start to look at the option of replacing the grass with an artificial surface.”