March 13, 14 and 15 are the proposed dates when the show will come to town but we will have to wait until November to see if it will go on.

The biggest problem is money.

In 2006 the $700,000 event lost $142,000; this year it was cancelled and next year the budget has been cut to $500,000.

The Newcastle Agricultural, Horticultural and Industrial Association has $50,000 in the bank and is chasing a one-off $200,000 grant from the Department of Sport and Recreation, which it submitted in March.

Seven months later the proposal is still being considered.

State member for Newcastle Jodi McKay has met with the show association but she is not aware of a funding decision.

Ms McKay said the show association was a dedicated group but the show should be able to support itself.

“It is important to see the show continue but there needs to be a certain level of accountability and the ability of the show association to operate a show that breaks even.”

The association president Roger Geary said if the money was not made available by the department it could jeopardise the show.

Mr Geary said he was confident the show would go on, but a lot more work had to be done to fix the show grounds.

“I am getting a bit skeptical in my own mind but it (the 2008 show) may have to be cancelled.”

The state of the grounds is the reason Mr Geary gave for the cancellation of this year’s show.

Chris Blanch secretary of the Newcastle Showground and Exhibition Centre Trust, which is responsible for the upkeep of the grounds, said the grounds would be ready for the 2008 show.

Work includes replacement of the show-ring fence after flood damage, and making use of the $1.47 million State Government funding to resurface roads and landscape the area where the old dog and poultry pavilions once stood.

It is not the grounds that concern Britt-Marie Osborne of Osborne’s Amusements, but the proposed dates.