Plans for Harrogate's Great Yorkshire Show to go ahead this year as Covid restrictions set to ease

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Registered charity the Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS), which organises England’s premier showcase of farming, food and the countryside, has confirmed it is planning for the Great Yorkshire Show to be held on Tuesday, July 13 to Thursday, July 15.

The celebration at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate remains subject to restrictions being lifted as set out by the Government last week.

The announcement has raised hopes that large events may be able to resume from June 21.

Any resumption of large events returning remains subject to the country’s ongoing progress in tackling the virus and the success of a series of pilot events planned by the Government this spring.

Charles Mills, Honorary Show Director of the Great Yorkshire Show, said: “Following the publication of the Government’s roadmap we are pleased to confirm that we are planning to hold the Great Yorkshire Show on July 13-15, 2021.

“This will of course have to be reviewed regularly and is based on the assumption that the whole country successfully moves from the current lockdown to step 4 in the Government’s roadmap on the 21st June.

“We will only go ahead with the show if we can do so safely for all concerned.”

YAS is exploring what the show programme can safely include and further details about the 162nd Great Yorkshire Show, including ticket sales, will be announced on the show’s website, on social media and via the media in due course.

Last year’s show was cancelled in full for the first time since the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001 as coronavirus restrictions meant the 2020 show could not go ahead.

Instead, the show went virtual during three days last July and offered behind the scenes tours of farms, workshops and with food producers, attracting viewers from more than 40 different countries.

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Despite the pandemic having sidelined major events, YAS has continued to offer year-round support to the farming community, including online gatherings and debates, health and wellbeing videos and nurturing a new supportive online community through its Yorkshire Women In Farming Facebook group.