Can you believe it? The Royal Queensland Show, presented by RACQ, is right around the corner – in fact, there are just over 30 days to go until the ‘Ekka’ opens its doors at the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane.

Not only will it open, but it will do so for the 140th time – what a track record! In fact, reaching this exciting birthday sees the Ekka as the only major Queensland event to lay claim to such longevity. To celebrate, organizers have introduced for the first time half-price entry and not one, but two, spectacular fireworks shows for each evening.

The half-price ticket will be known as the Twilight Ticket and means people can come to Ekka from 6.00pm till late and enjoy the show for half price, while the second fireworks show will act as a special early Children’s Fireworks pretend by MG Motor at 6.00pm in the Main Arena, in addition to the famous night show fireworks finale at 7.40pm.

With such great news and also the final countdown now underway, it is not really surprising to note that it has been a busy last few days!

The official launch of the show was held on Thursday, July 5 and on Friday, July 6 the winners of Royal Queensland Wine Show (RQWS) Awards were announced. Taking out the major accolade was the Xanadu Wines Reserve Chardonnay 2015, which was crowned as the Grand Champion Wine of Show.  A total of 1,608 entries from 217 Australian wineries were received this year – for a full listing of results, click here.

That wasn’t all of the action on Friday either, with the day finishing off with the ‘Grape Grazing by Night – Celebrating Australian Wine’ public tasting was held at the Showgrounds in the evening before event partner company Uber ensured everyone got home safely.

I certainly can’t wait to take advantage of the Twilight Ticket with my family to pop into the show after work and when my daughters have finished school and uni for some extra Ekka fun – with the food pavilions opening until late for the first time this year, I am sure we won’t be the only ones taking advantage of the award-winning food options and live entertainment when we do so.

The Twilight Ticket isn’t the only value for money option this year either, with the return of the historic discounts introduced for the 2016 show in the two-day pass and the hugely popular two-for-one Super Ride Tuesday and Super Food Sunday. There are also more than 300 FREE things to see and do each day at the show, and tickets are 15 percent off online up until Ekka Eve and will remain the same price as last year for the 10 days of the show when purchased online.

Other things I am looking forward to this year are the return of the Holden Precision Driving Team, which are making their comeback as part of the 140th birthday celebrations, and catching up with last year’s rural ambassador Justin Matthews (aka @aussiscattlekid on Instagram) in the lower beef pavilion when Ekka gets underway.

Four hundred thousand people are expected through the gates of the 140th Ekka, which along with the brand-new world-class entertainment including a jam-packed night show, award-winning food and wine and two fireworks shows will host 10,000 animals and 21,000 competition entries. It is now only 32 days away – will I see you there?