The final numbers aren't in yet, but it seems Novocastrians have fallen back in love with their annual show.
A soggy Friday and competition from the Matildas and Surfest, failed to deter tens of thousands of punters who made the trek to Broadmeadow Showground.
"Rain, hail or shine, people love their show," show general manager Gabe Robinson, said.
"Friday's crowd was up a thousand on last year which was better than the year before. Just looking at the number of people here I'd say Saturday and Sunday's numbers will be up too."
Mr Robinson, said a high-impact, guerilla marketing campaign in the weeks leading up to the show combined with a wide variety of high quality, engaging offerings had paid off.
Traditional attractions such Friday's monster trucks Saturday night's Rodeo and Sunday's demolition derby were as popular as ever,
But equally, new initiatives such as "50 free things that people can see or do", were big drawcards.
"The exhibition centre was packed," Mr Robinson said.
"The main ring was five-deep by early afternoon on Saturday. That didn't happen until the evening last year. We were still shooing people out of here at 10pm last night."
But Mr Robinson said he wants to consolidate the success before he would be confident to argue for the reintroduction of the Newcastle Show holiday.
"We have a three year plan; I want to make sure we earn the right to ask for the holiday, he said.
I understand there are two sides to it. On the one hand it's an iconic event but it's a lot to ask the city's businesses for a day off.
