Police were all GO at the show!

Roll up roll up – people were queueing to ride our police motorbike. Pippa was ready for the highway!

Run off our feet again this year!

We featured the ‘Share the Road’ campaign and encouraged all who attended to think about their driving and riding behaviour on our roads in an effort to make them a much safer place for all of us.

The Share the Road campaign is not just directed at motorists or cyclists, but everyone on our roads and that includes pedestrians, trucks, mobility scooters and the like.

Lisa showing her broken bike and smashed helmet which saved her life

This year we featured Lisa’s Story and highlighted the importance of sharing the road and how wearing a properly fitted helmet, can save your life.

Lisa’s broken bike and smashed helmet is testament to that theory and took centre stage on our feature wall at our display. Both the bike and helmet became a real talking point for many who attended. We also featured Lisa’s story in the Cairns Post and both WIN News and Seven Local news.

Motorists and bikers alike took that opportunity to grab some information about the new bicycle legislation and collected one of our reflective stickers to highlight our Share the Road message.

We had a good turn out of entries into our Share the Road competition to win a Share the Road reflective safety vest and QPS pack. Entries closed on Friday 18th July and the five lucky winners, have been contacted to collect their winning packs.

Share the Road reflective vest prize pack

WINNERS:

Hayden from Kewarra Beach
Nicky from Holloways Beach
Andrea from Gordonvale
Tina from Earlville
Rachelle from Mount Sheridan

Our Show Safety Armbands proved popular again this year with many people collecting bands from the pre show tickets sales, our Police Show Office at the main Grandstand and our Crime Prevention Display at the Fred Moule Pavillion.

Whilst our first two days weren’t overly busy, Friday however was another story.

Harold was stolen from the NQ Gutter Solutions Display

I was approached by a very distressed show display holder informing me his pet, ‘Harold’ the snake had been stolen from his display in the early hours of the morning.

Yikes! The look of horror on my face had him clarify his statement by explaining the snake was in fact rubber.

I breathed a sight of relief and had police patrolling the show grounds for Harold. Our leads were cold though, much like Harold’s lifeless body and we were unable to locate him.

‘Harold’ is still missing and is described as being dark green in colour, rubber and very lifelike.

In the event anyone has seen ‘Harold’ please call Eli on 0400708300 as he’d like to be reunited with Harold, the star of his show, as soon as possible.

Armbands were essential to reduce the tears and tissues

As the crowds flooded in, the calls for missing kids came in thick and fast with some reported missing and some located. Whilst we light on with missing kids on days one and two of the show, we certainly made up for it on day three, the public holiday.

We averaged nearly one missing child per hour for the show with a total of 10 kids in our lost and found section.

As quickly as we were reuniting distraught children with their parents, more flooded in.

Of those 10 missing children, six had armbands and were reunited quickly with their parents. The remaining four took a little longer to reunite, but all were issued with an armband with their parents mobile phone number, just in case it was needed again.

All other located property items were taken to the Cairns Show Office for collection.

My little mate has been coming back each year since he was a baby for his annual photo.

Some of our locals come back to visit us at our crime prevention display each year and whilst the numbers to the show continue to swell, we still have time for a chat with our regulars.

Our police motorbike once again was a huge hit with kids both big and small taking advantage of the opportunity to sit on top of the 1300cc Honda which weighs in at an impressive 300kg. A huge thank you to Sgt Mark Buckman for the loan of this little beauty for the show period.

Below are some of our display photos of both big and small fans enjoying our police motorbike: