The Gold Coast today celebrates the opening day of its annual show, the only major show to be held across the country after most of the annual events, including Brisbane’s Ekka, were cancelled due to the pandemic.

In stark contrast, residents of the Tweed and Northern Rivers over the border remain in ongoing lockdown, with little hope of similar freedoms any time soon as the number of cases continue at around 1,000 a day in that state.

As the Gold Coast show kicks off with its 11am opening ceremony for an event boasting the largest number of rides for thrill seekers ever, locals have begun turning out in droves.

Social distancing measures are being enforced for the crowd, in the only real nod to the impacts of the pandemic, as the Gold Coast Show looks to be the biggest in 114 years of the event.

Lewis Osborne, managing director of Showtime Amusements and trustee of the Showmen’s Guild of Australasia, said it had been very tough for shows nationwide after mass cancellations.

“All the shows basically have cancelled. It’s a terrifying time for all of us at the moment,” he said.

“But now it’s beautiful weather, dagwood dogs are everywhere, everything you could be after to come to the show, it’s all here.”

In a last-minute call earlier this month, the Brisbane Ekka at the Brisbane Showgrounds was cancelled as the south-east grappled with a growing Delta outbreak and snap lockdowns were extended. The Ekka was the latest in 18 months of cancellations of agricultural shows across the country, scratched as states battled to contain outbreaks of the virus.

Around 400,000 visitors were expected to attend the Ekka, costing the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland itself around $2 million. It also cost the state, with the Ekka, along with other RNA events, injecting around $200 million into the Queensland economy.

The Gold Coast Show was cancelled last year, but ride operators, show bag sellers and other stall holders said this year’s event had turned into a rare glimmer of hope for an industry on its own terrifying rollercoaster ride.

Showtime Showbags’ Mitchell Peers told ABC Gold Coast the show was vital for operators.

“This year, we’ve hardly done any work. Last year was worse,” he said.

“For some of the families, they haven’t worked in such a long time. It’s a life-saver.”

The show’s opening day comes as border communities continue to struggle with NSW lockdowns and strict “essential only” workers allowed to cross into Queensland.

Businesses along the border zone say they are battling to survive in the tight pandemic restrictions, causing misery and anger that has seeped through the southern Gold Coast and throughout the Northern Rivers.

Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce president Hilary Jacobs said the Chamber had started surveying businesses to quantify the impact of the government measures.

Early results in the business community showed 97 per cent of businesses in the area had been impacted by Covid, she said.

Around one in five said the biggest impact was due to customers not being able to come to their business.

The survey showed most businesses felt it was “very unlikely” they could keep trading if restrictions weren’t lifted before November.