Looking back at the Cork Summer Show, one of our great institutions

THE Cork Summer Show is in full swing at the showgrounds in Curraheen this weekend.

Last year, over 43,000 people visited the showgrounds, and the Munster Agricultural Society, which runs the show, expects upwards of 20,000 visitors, from the city, the county, and other counties, will attend each day.

The annual, two-day agricultural show has been a fixture of Cork’s calendar since it debuted in the 1880s, with the earliest-surviving minute book of the County of Cork Agricultural Society dating back to a meeting of the show’s subcommittee on Saturday, April 17, 1886.

The minutes offer a fascinating insight into the build-up and preparation for the two-day show, which was then held at the Corn Exchange in the centre of Cork.

Members pledged to donate £129 towards the cost of organising a public agricultural exhibition to showcase the best livestock and farm produce in Cork, and exhibitors were invited to display their wares and would be granted a season ticket at a cost of 2/6 pence.

Records collated by the show secretary, Edward Corrigan, stated that a cost of £1,023.1.6 had been incurred in staging the first Cork Summer Show, while receipts and donations amounted to only £829.9.1.

Demonstration of butter making machine at the Cork Summer Show in 1930. Picture Ref:. 532 A. 

Despite the loss, the society decided to host a second show the following year, and expanded the show classes to include more popular livestock breeds such as Shorthorn cattle, Shropshire sheep and Large White Yorkshire pigs.

General interest exhibitions including collie dog trials, butter-making and innovative farm machinery were added to the schedule.

Refreshments

It was decided to allow second and third-class ticket holders access to the refreshment bar during the show’s second year, a change in policy on the first year, when only first-class ticket holders had been permitted in the bar area.

In 1892, the society leased 27 acres at the Cork Racecourse in Ballintemple, a mile from the city centre, from the Corporation of Cork, at an annual rent of £20.

Significant investment was required to prepare the new grounds, which was mainly land reclaimed from marshy swamp, as the regular schedule of events would include showjumping, necessitating stabling and the erection of an exhibition hall. A budget of £5,300 was agreed.

Avril Helen, Clonakity relaxes with an iced drink beside her cousin Clodagh Helen in the sunshine, with their Jersey cows at the 168th Cork Summer Show at the Show Field, Greenfields, Ballincollig in June 2009. Picture: Larry Cummins.

To supplement income at the new showgrounds, the lands were rented out to sporting organisations at a daily rate of between £5 and £20.

The showgrounds at Ballintemple remained the home of the Cork Summer Show until 2008, when it was decided that a greenfield site, away from what was now a busy suburban area of Cork city, would better suit the hosting of agricultural events.

Land was purchased at Curraheen, and the first show at the new showgrounds was set to take place in 2012, but rare weather events led to the show being cancelled on the advice of the emergency services.

Cousins Aine Lynch and Amelia Smith, Cork splashing in the mud on the site of the 171st Cork Summer Show in 2012 which was cancelled due to heavy rain at Curraheen, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

The next and subsequent years delivered record attendances at the new home of the Cork Summer Show.

In 2020 and 2021, for the first time in the society’s history, classes were judged virtually. The show returned as a live public event in 2022.

For more on the history of the Cork Summer Show, see Munster Agricultural Society: The Story of Cork Show Grounds by the former Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor Kieran McCarthy.