After a year’s hiatus, the Bermuda Agricultural Exhibition returns tomorrow — showcasing the island’s best and brightest natural wonders.

The event, taking place from 8am to 6pm until Saturday at the Botanical Gardens, offers 13 competitive divisions in which 2,500 entrants are set to slug it out. All the old favourites will be there: from purebred pigs, Rhinelander rabbits and Chantecler chickens to proudly grown vegetables, home-made jams and model gardens.

The opening ceremony will be conducted in the Exhibition Ring at 1pm by David Lopes, the chairman of the AG Show Ltd charity, which has taken over the running of the community fair after the Bermuda Government cancelled last year’s edition for financial reasons.

“The Ag Show is probably the biggest cultural event in Bermuda and welcomes people of all ages and from all walks of life,” Mr Lopes told The Royal Gazette.

This year’s theme is “Homegrown”, promoting Bermudian talent in fields such as entertainment — with a post-show soca jam taking place on Saturday.

Acrobatic students from the Bermuda Heart Foundation’s Jump 2B Fit programme will perform on stage from 2.15pm on Friday and Saturday.

The youngsters, aged 7 to 18, will show off a combination of single rope skills, double-dutch skills, and gymnastics tumbling while in the ropes. Other activities for children include the junior art competition, in which 2,000 entrants will compete for glory, as well as contests in making kites, recyclable displays and hats for high tea. Antwan Albuoy, president of AG Show Ltd, said he was “overjoyed” with the amount of support the family event had received so far.

“Everyone has been working hard to ensure that everything is ready,” he said.

“We are excited to host this year’s show and we are looking forward to the entire community coming out.”

While tickets will be available on each day, customers booking in advance online at www.ptix.bm/agshow can skip the queues via the PTix Express lane.

Entry for each day costs $10 for adults and $5 for children and seniors, and nothing for children under 5.

For full information and to see the show’s 74-page catalogue, click on the PDF link under “Related Media”