Thousands attend Queensland’s largest agriculture show
Wet weather in southeast Queensland has yet to put a dampener on Brisbane’s annual Ekka Show. More than 50,000 show-goers are expected to turn out for the public holiday event.
Transcript
00:00Well, despite the wet weather, thousands of people have turned up at the ECCA for People's
00:06Day, the public holiday for the largest event, the agriculture show on the Queensland calendar.
00:11Now, Queenslanders would know at the ECCA, it's not just about the rides, it's not just
00:16about the show bags, it's also the people that you run into.
00:18Sorry, excuse me, sir, excuse me.
00:21I'm just busy.
00:23I'm getting dressed.
00:24I'm getting florally dressed.
00:25Can you tell me what's sort of going on here right now?
00:29What's going on here?
00:30This is floral mayhem, and I love it, and it's going on again.
00:36Each year it happens.
00:39Basically it started as a floral beard competition, and then we realised that why be exclusive
00:44only to people with follicles?
00:47Let's open it out.
00:48So it's just wearable floristry.
00:50And that way everyone, whether you've got a beard or no beard, and it's a chance for
00:54florists, I think, to show just how creativity is something that can be expressed through
01:02flowers, and then when you express that through flowers, you connect people to nature and
01:08all of those things.
01:09So it's just brilliant that this is probably about the, I don't know, the seventh or eighth
01:14year we've done it.
01:15How amazing.
01:16Now, can you tell me a bit about what you look out for?
01:19I can try and put some of these flowers in your beard just to decorate, but tell me a
01:23bit about what it's all about.
01:24What do you look out for when you do it?
01:26Well, the florists, first of all, they have to look at the person, if there's a beard
01:31or it could be a lady with beautiful long hair or a particular colour of hair.
01:35And then they gauge their flowers, their choice of flowers, to go with what they're doing.
01:41And then if they're wearing a beautiful shirt like that, they'll get colours.
01:45So yeah, you want to create movement, splashes and pops of colour, perhaps a thread.
01:53You know, a thread and a theme, there might be some little bees that get put in there
01:57or maybe even a possum or a kookaburra, who knows.
02:02But yeah, it's up to that creative eye of the florist to just piece the portrait.
02:11Effectively, it's a moving portrait.
02:15It's incredible, isn't it?
02:17Tell me, how have you found the Eccas so far?
02:18The first thing I noticed this morning, it's pouring with rain when I woke up.
02:23Was there a drop in energy?
02:24Not at all.
02:26It took me the same amount of time to walk across the place as it normally does because
02:31people want to stop and say hello.
02:34The excitement is high.
02:36People have put ponchos on, they've got umbrellas, or they're just saying, well, it doesn't matter.
02:40The weather's the weather.
02:41And particularly beautiful to see the country folk here, they don't care about the weather.
02:47They go, well, that's what we're dealt.
02:49So no, I feel as excited as ever.
02:54And the Ecca, it's such a signature event for, really, Queensland.
02:59Thank you so much for your time, Costa.
03:01Just one of the many sights and sounds here at the Ecca.
03:03Despite the wet weather, still lots to do, especially undercover.