Maleny Show’s $500K facilities facelift

Andrew Wallace MP, front, with Maleny Show Society Patron Andrew Powell MP, right, and President Winston Johnston, left, at the Showgrounds.

The Maleny Show will look a little different next year, thanks to a $486,111 grant announced recently by Federal Member for Fisher Andrew Wallace. The grant will go towards the construction of new facilities to help reinvigorate the well-used grounds.

The grant would help alleviate some of the disappointment with the cancellation of this year’s show. “Every year this event is absolutely the biggest show in town and it has been very disappointing for all of us in Maleny to miss out in 2020,” Mr Wallace said. 

“The grant will be used by the Maleny Show Society to build a new workshop and shed, to extend their offices to provide more capacity for putting together a terrific show, and to construct new accessible amenities to make it easier for people with disabilities to come along and take part in the fun. 

“That is going to benefit not only our show, but our whole community in providing work for local builders in the short term and drawing more visitors to our community in the years to come.

Maleny Show Society President and newly elected Div 5 Councillor Winston Johnston said the organisation was privileged to receive the money.

“This grant will benefit not only the Show Society but TS Centaur, the cricket club, the soccer club and many more,” Cr Johnston said. 

“At the present moment we are starved for these kinds of facilities and our ground staff desperately need more area for working and storage. We want to thank the Federal Government for honouring us with such a large grant,” Mr Johnston said.

“I’d also like to thank my team, because the Maleny Show Committee is a team. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved. Maleny Show is undoubtedly one of the best country shows in Queensland,” he said.

“This grant means that the Show can move on the next stage and grow even bigger. We’re going to go to the next level. We will be a bigger show, and we’re adding new things to our entertainment every year.”