Dounby Show

It's show season again and we are crossing our fingers that the sun will shine and the rain stay away all week. Thursday 11th August is the Dounby Show which is celebrated by a local public holiday, so both the Stromness Library and Orkney Library and Archive in Kirkwall will be closed for the day.

Instead of stamping books we'll be donning our sunhats and enjoying a day out among the livestock and stalls. This year, in addition to the usual delights of the Sheep Sheering Competition, the Highland Dancing Demonstration and of course the refreshments in the Pavilion, we are promised the Scottish Terrier Racing Team, a Quad Bike Agility Challenge and Award-Winning Chainsaw Creations!

If you would like to find out more about the history of the show, and the Orkney West Mainland Agricultural Society which runs it, then you may like to come and have a look at our copy of Showyard on the Heather by George T. Wylie. which tells of the show's development from the first "Show of Stock to be held at Dounby on Thursday 9th July 1891" to the Centenary celebrations of 1991. 

We hope you enjoy your day out at the show, just remember to pace yourself though, otherwise you could find all the excitement gets too much for you!