The 2022 Wānaka A&P Show, due to be held on March 11-12, has been cancelled due to Covid-19 red alert restrictions.

The announcement is expected to be a crushing blow for the Wānaka community and wider Queenstown Lakes District and follows the cancellation of several other major events that bring significant economic benefit to the area.

The Wānaka A&P Show attracts 45,000 people across two days and brings more than $28.6 million in direct economic benefit to the local community each year.

“We are devastated that we have to cancel,” Upper Clutha A&P Society chair Mike Scurr says. “We have tried to delay our decision for as long as possible before time constraints prevented our Show community – the management team, sponsors, competitors, trade exhibitors, members, contractors, entertainment providers and volunteers – from successfully setting up and attending the Show.

“In the current climate, this event would have provided a much-needed cash injection to hundreds of trade exhibitors and, importantly, to our local accommodation and hospitality businesses, plus local community groups."

Wānaka A&P Show event manager Jane Stalker says: “We have been humbled by the support from so many people in the past couple of weeks, willing us to carry on.

“Every year we get told that the Show is a great community event, which provides opportunities for people to network, catch up with old friends and gain an immense sense of pride in seeing their hard work on show – whether that’s in homemade crafts, home-grown produce or livestock. We are saddened that we’re unable to provide this opportunity to enable social wellbeing and economic stimulus,” she adds.

The not-for-profit Upper Clutha A&P Society has organised the Wānaka A&P Show since its inception in 1934. The only time the Show was ever cancelled was between 1939-1945, during World War 2.