The year was 1894. The city of Johannesburg was but eight years old. On an old brickfield next to Milner Park, the newly instituted Witwatersrand Agricultural Society hosted an agricultural show to showcase the pride of the Transvaal farming community – the Best of Breed bulls and prize dairy stock.
Did those early organisers know they had started a legend? That theirs would be the show that featured in so many childhood memories as the Rand Easter Show?
That their exhibition of farming tools and livestock would grow to be the biggest consumer show on the South African calendar, spending ?
A true institution, the Rand Show has weathered many storms, including the Anglo-Boer War, which put it on hold for several years. Then, after almost a century of being the premier agricultural show of the nation, a change of ownership saw the Rand Show lose its agricultural backbone, and with it, its way.
A NEW ERA FOR THE RAND SHOW
Times have changed once again for the Rand Show. In 2009, the show was sold to Nasrec, and with this new management came a new dawn for South Africa’s biggest exhibition. The Rand Show 2010 was an exhibition reborn.
Gone was the flea-market and bazaar atmosphere and rowdy rock concerts. Despite unseasonably bad weather, and being limited to a severely restricted site after a large section of the Expo Centre was earmarked for FIFA’s use, the Rand Show 2010 proved that a family-oriented, lifestyle-rich show could draw in the crowds.
The Rand Show will be taking this first success to the next level, and will be building on its history to make the 2012 show a “must-do” on every family’s list, fulfilling its promise of being a Great Day Out.
In 2011 the Show continued to implement new programmes
that enhanced the visitors’ experience, harnessing new
technologies and media to create a stronger engagement
with our events and attraction.
