The Manawatu A&P Show 2026, run by the Manawatu A&P Association (founded 1886), takes place 7-8 November 2026 at Manfeild Park in Feilding - a two-day agricultural and pastoral show of livestock, equestrian, trade and family activities.
The Manawatu A&P Show 2026 is a two-day agricultural and pastoral show running 7-8 November 2026 at Manfeild Park in Feilding. Billed under the banner "Country Comes to Town," it brings livestock judging, equestrian competition, trade exhibits and public entertainment together on one regional showground over a spring weekend.
It is one of New Zealand's long-standing A&P shows, the annual public event of an association whose roots reach back to 1886.
The show is organised by the Manawatu A&P Association, whose legal name is the Manawatu & West Coast Agricultural & Pastoral Association Incorporated. According to the organiser, the Association was formed in 1886, giving the show a lineage spanning well over a century. It is a registered New Zealand charity (CC34970, registered 30 June 2008), with a stated purpose of providing a hands-on agricultural and pastoral experience to people in the Manawatu and wider area who are not normally involved in rural or farming life. The Association operates from Manfeild Park and manages trade-site, food-vendor, sponsorship and membership arrangements for the show directly.
The show combines a competitive and commercial agricultural programme with broad public appeal. On the rural side it covers beef and dairy livestock sections, equestrian events, poultry and egg exhibits, and specialist displays, alongside a dedicated Trade Section and a Home, Hands & Leisure section. For the general public and families it adds attractions such as the Farmworld exhibit, a tractor pull, strongman-style competitions, and rides and activities for children. Exhibitors and traders register through the Association, which confirms that food-vendor and trade-site applications for the November show are open.
The show is held at Manfeild Park, 59 South Street, Feilding - a purpose-built events and showground site with both indoor and outdoor facilities, best known as a motorsport and events venue. Feilding sits roughly 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North, around a 20-minute drive via State Highway 54. Palmerston North is the regional transport hub, with Palmerston North Airport and rail and road connections, and holds the bulk of the area's hotel and motel accommodation; Feilding itself offers a smaller supply of local lodging. Manfeild Park provides on-site parking for events of this scale. These logistics are provided as neutral context for anyone attending.
Regional A&P shows like the Manawatu show function as annual anchors in the local event economy. A two-day show draws exhibitors, livestock entrants, trade vendors, sponsors and tens of thousands of public attendees to a single venue, generating demand for accommodation, hospitality and transport across Feilding and neighbouring Palmerston North. For the business-events sector, a long-established, charity-governed show with a fixed calendar slot and dedicated showground infrastructure is a stable recurring fixture - the kind of primary-industry gathering that keeps a provincial venue and its surrounding supply chain active outside the main conference season.
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