Henty Machinery Field Days 2020 cancelled due to pandemic

The run of cars and oversized vehicles that make up the traditional pilgrimage to the Henty Machinery Field Days, was noticeably absent in the quiet town this week.

A decent spring, followed by another 15mm to 20mm of rain on the weekend, would have certainly spelled success for the field days this year.

Normally the town of about 1000 residents sees a massive influx of 60,000 visitors across the three-day event.

But this year, the pandemic caused organisers to cancel the event.

Henty Machinery Field Days chief executive officer Belinda Anderson said in some ways it "feels like Henty" but it was certainly quieter than usual.

The 2020 event was due to run from Tuesday to Thursday this week.

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She said the flowering of canola, the good seasonal conditions and positive sentiment in the agricultural industry would have been great for the field days.

Mrs Anderson is confident that 2021 will be a stellar event and people will be keen to get back to the southern NSW site.

"It's a little bit surreal," she said.

"We are just very hopeful, and focused on next year ... we will keep moving along.

"All of the marquees would have been up, and the exhibitors here, (in previous years) so it feels a bit strange ... the phone is not even ringing."

With the focus now on next year, it is hoped the field days could be better than ever.

"Hopefully we will be managing COVID-19 and we could have a pandemic or know how to run events," she said. Better guidelines in preventing the spread of coronavirus were also likely to be set in place by this time next year.

"We need to see things back on track for Victoria ... we have a lot of exhibitors and visitors from Victoria each year," she said. The field days have been cancelled twice before in 1970 and 1971.