Three days out from the Plunket Electrical 161st North Otago A&P Show, secretary Katrina Kelly is fielding constant phone calls, directing helpers, and worries that she hasn’t sent the catalogue to the printers yet.

But a lot can happen in three days, and everything will come together again for Saturday's show, just like it has for the past 160.

This year, the “Under the Grandstand” entries are unprecedented, with more than 3,300 home industry and school exhibits, she says.

“It’s up considerably in the adults’ . . .  Go and have a look underneath the grandstand, because at the moment it’s looking absolutely amazing.”

There had been a push on to increase the craft entries, and Katrina thinks the high interest in the home industry sections is a reflection of people returning to more traditional past-times like preserving fruit and growing their own vegetables.

“That's probably the most vegetables and fruit that I've ever seen . . . so hopefully they come in - because they all come in on Friday. So, I'm pretty excited and it looks really good under there, which is cool.”

Outside in the showgrounds, South Suffolk is the featured sheep breed, with 72 entries.

“Last year we had 80 sheep in total,” Katrina says. “This year we’ve got 212.”

South Suffolk are farmed by A&P Association president Mark Lawrence, and he is behind organising that part of the show.

“It's a real sheep sort of focus this year because we've got dog trial demonstrations and sheep shearing demonstrations happening three times over the day for each of them, because people don't get to see that normally at this show,” Katrina says.

A focus remains on the day being fun and affordable for the whole family. Entry is $10 for adults, and children are free. There is also a tonne of free activities for the kids once they’re inside.

Entertainers Mulletman and Mim will be performing throughout the day with three shows, the PGG tent returns, as does the North Otago Toy Library, House of Bricks and Pedalmania. 

“There's a treasure hunt, there's the AgriKids Challenge and the animal obstacle course,” Katrina says. 

“The whole focus, I think, is that we realise times are tough . . . We want people to come in and have a good time, but not have to spend a massive fortune.”

Katrina is excited about this year’s show, and she credits her small but mighty committee for helping bring it all together.

“We're only tiny, but they've done an amazing job. We've got an amazing group of people.”

This year, the lucky gate prize, drawn at 3.30pm, is a $500 New World voucher, donated by Plunket Electrical, and you have to be at the show and have programme in hand when it is drawn, to win.

Just a taster of the art entries in the Under the Grandstand section of the show.