Ivanka Menken

Today is EKKA day… one day per year where the people in Brisbane get the day off (Public Holiday) to go to the Brisbane Agriculture Show.

I have been here for 8 years now and I still don’t get it… Why should businesses close for a day so people can attend the show?

The EKKA -as it is commonly knows- is an annual event that lasts for approx. 10 days and at the heart of it are the agricultural events. Farmers get the chance to showcase their cows, sheep, horses, pumpkins, flowers etc. So from a historical point of view I understand why it used to be such a big deal. But it is now 2008 – and do people really need the day off work to see a few horses, cows and other farm animals?

Most people don’t even go to the EKKA, and when they do – they don’t spend time with the animals! The biggest attraction is ’sideshow ally’ as this is where the real action happens. This is where the carnival is with a ferris wheel, rides, shooting games and all sorts of other stuff that you would expect at a carnival, country fair of some sort.

Oh, and don’t forget the food: every year people have to take the rest of the week off because of various levels of food poisoning!

Anyway – I am not a local so I will probably never understand. What I do understand is that most of our clients are outside of Brisbane and overseas. They don’t know about EKKA day… they don’t understand that the office should be closed today. All they know is that they can’t contact us.. their email orders are not processed… they don’t get instant access to their eLearning programs.

This of course can never happen: so we have shifts in the office – we make sure there is somebody in the office every working day. EKKA day or not! Some people had Monday off, others will take the Thursday or the Friday.

No matter what – the show must go on… we have clients who rely and depend on us. We have Service Levels that we need to honour and fulfill. So no EKKA day for us… at least not for all of us… not today.