Competitors young and old farewell the Easter show

Few know the hard work that goes into the Royal Easter Show like Doug Crowell. At 94 he is thought to be one of the oldest exhibitors ever at the Sydney show and has been volunteering there for a whopping 54 years. For the past month he's been helping out at Homebush in Sydney's west as part of the 40-strong central district team behind a prize-winning produce display. "We start at seven (in the morning) and we finish at eight (at night), if we're lucky," the former grain farmer tells AAP. Originally picked for his wide-ranging knowledge of grains and pasture hays, Mr Crowell hasn't missed a show since 1970. "It's hard work," he says. While the nonagenarian gets ready to head home to Tamworth in northeast NSW, he has no plans to retire from the show. "I just can't stop coming back," Mr Crowell, named this year's Show Legend for his ongoing commitment, tells AAP. Competitors aged from five to 94 have taken part in this year's Royal Easter Show, with New Zealander Charlotte Copeman among them. The seven-year-old and her pony Daisy took out first place in the lead rein section. The win is a big deal for the Copeman family who bred the pony, which competes under the name VP Little Secret, themselves. The family has been in Australia for two weeks, after flying their animal out from New Zealand. "They're judging the pony and how it carries a child, so it's about the suitability of the pony for the child that's riding it," Charlotte's mum Mary Copeman says. The bond between Charlotte and her pony is obvious to see. "The reason why I like her (Daisy) is because she gives me lots of kisses and hugs," the seven-year-old says. As Sydney prepares to farewell Australia's largest agricultural show for another year, organisers say pack-down will begin as soon as the event finishes on Tuesday night. "For the next two days they're going to be bumping out livestock and pulling down their exhibits and their stands and packing up big trucks," the show's Murray Wilton said. Despite some delays for show rides on a sell-out Good Friday after some electronic outages that afternoon, organisers say otherwise the event ran smoothly over the 12 days. "We're going to sit down with the operators after the show and have a chat, we definitely saw a dip in revenue," Mr Wilton said. Attendance exceeded expectations, he said. "We're going to hit 800,000 which is pretty remarkable for a non-school holiday show," he said. More than 8700 animal exhibits over 480 different breeds competed at the show.