The Brighton Show has a reputation as the best little country show in Tassie and 2023 didn’t disappoint. Huge crowds flocked to Pontville Park on Sunday 12 November to experience the traditional agricultural show, to catch a glimpse of rural life in Tasmania.

Brighton Council was there to answer questions about garbage, recycling and FOGO (Food Organics, Garden Organics), with the chance for kids to win a prize on Garbage Gwen’s prize wheel or for adults to go in the draw to win a home compost bin. One of the key messages Council was sharing was that the FOGO bin (the one with the lime green lid) is not just for grass clippings and garden cuttings but food waste from the kitchen. FOGO is an important way of keeping food waste out of landfill and eventually going back into our soils as nutrient rich compost.

Council also partnered the Derwent Catchment Project to bring Fonz the Wonder Dog to the show. Fonz is a weed detection dog and was on hand to demonstrate the use of sniffer dogs to detect weeds such as serrated tussock and Chilean needlegrass. One of the main aims of the Derwent Catchment Project stand was to raise awareness of weeds and threatened species in Brighton. A major threat to Brighton’s natural values and grazing areas are some of the “nasty” grasses – serrated tussock, Chilean needlegrass, espartillo and African feather grass – all of which thrive in the dry open grasslands such as those found in Brighton. The Brighton Show was an opportunity to engage with landholders about these grasses. There was an interactive display with some new 3D online images of the grasses comparing them with native grasses and a competition to see if people could identify the samples on site (in sealed containers of course!).

However, it was little Suzie Q the baby Belgian Shepherd, in training to detect threatened plants such as rare native orchids, who ‘stole the show’ by just being cute and playful.