Organisers of the three day show which began on Sunday, came close to cancelling the entire event due to the record amount of rain in the Gold City for July.

A dose of North Queensland sunshine over the weekend however dried things out enough for the event to be declared back on, be it in a reduced format.

One of the biggest disappointments for many was the cancelling of both the prime cattle sale and the stud cattle section.

Charters Towers has long held onto its agricultural show roots and the absence of cattle from it this year put a sizable dent in the event.

For those that did make it to the show, the horse sections were in full swing.

The rain also cancelled this week’s Charters Towers cattle sale, usually held on Wednesday.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Charters Towers had received 88mm for the week up to Tuesday.

But the rain was a only part of the pressure which saw the brakes put on livestock movement in the Charters Towers region.

The proposed truck stoppage also put sale organisers and livestock producers in two minds as to whether they would be able to get cattle transported.

Several major transport operators carried on with business as usual, however some North Queensland livestock carriers did take part in the stoppage, limiting the numbers at sales.

*Full story in this week’s North Queensland Register, out Thursday.