Murgon Show Society has turned over a new leaf, as its youngest show society president takes charge.
At just 19 years of age – and having graduated from Murgon State High School in 2023 – Josh Steinhardt is set to bring a new era to the show.
With knowledge from working at the local Murgon saleyards, participating in the art of trading cattle, buying and selling, volunteering his spare time to do cultivation work for a couple local farmers and volunteering for a couple other show societies, Mr Steinhardt displays all the characteristics the local agricultural show focuses on.
After spending the past two years as the chief steward of the Murgon stud cattle section, Mr Steinhardt set his sights higher, with the aim of bringing the younger generation into the show society.
“I guess it was just the fact that we were lacking in the younger generation,” he said, explaining his motivation for becoming show society president.
“I’ve always loved being involved with the shows and I just wanted to give back to the community and keep the Murgon Show going,” he said.
With a love for the livestock events and having the ability to exhibit farm produce in the pavilion, Mr Steinhardt intends to keep the good, friendly and overall great country show on the up, as he brings younger, fresh ideas to the table on how the Murgon Show can be improved and make it a better day out for the general public.
Mr Steinhardt’s vision for the show society is to keep it going strong and to keep improving, bringing in new attractions that the show has not seen before.
Some ideas Mr Steinhardt has brought forward is to involve the new South Burnett Quarter Horse Cutters club with demonstrations and a competition on the day and to bring post ripping back to the show.
He also has plans to hold a Show and Shine for vintage cars, hoping to have a ‘machinery alley’ where these vintage beauties and antique tractors can be proudly displayed.
The South Burnett Quarter Horse Cutters approached the Murgon Show Society at the end of last year, asking to make use of their facilities. The show society agreed, thinking it was a good idea.
To keep the show community oriented, Mr Steinhardt intends to take on board feedback from the community.
“I just love people’s suggestions, thoughts and ideas,” he said. “We want to get more community involvement. Any ideas and thoughts are considered.”
With his goal to bring the younger generation to the show society, Mr Steinhardt aims to make it a welcoming environment, showing it in a light to potential members that the show is something that needs to be continued.
“A lot of younger people in the area, they need to get involved a bit because the older generation is starting to not be as active as they used to be,” he said.
“We just need to make it feel welcoming, make it something that gives back to the community.”
The biggest challenge facing many of the rural show societies is the lack of volunteers, the Murgon Show Society included.
As the new president, Mr Steinhardt aims to tackle this challenge by putting it out there to the community, inviting them to come and help.
“Even if it’s just in the kitchen, or sitting at the gate on the day of the show for a couple hours.
“Make it so that they might not have to do much, but they’re still giving something back to the community and enjoying themselves at the same time.”
The most enjoyable part of being a member of the show society? “I guess it’s just to see the Show Day happen”.
“You work for 12 months to make a really good show day,” Mr Steinhardt said, “And, on show day, the best feeling is seeing the show all unfold and see how good it is.”
It isn’t just seeing the show come together that is rewarding, as the fresh president states that it was also seeing all the generous sponsors, as “without sponsors we can’t run a show at all.”
“At the end of the day, when you sit down and look at your sponsor list and see people that actually want to keep the show going, that’s really rewarding,” he said, “To know that there’s a lot of people out there that want to contribute to a successful show.”
The Murgon Show is set to happen on Friday, 14 March and Saturday, 15 March, with plenty of things to see and do, including the rodeo on Saturday evening.
