Despite the current drought, there's no spare accommodation in Gunnedah over the week of AgQuip once again this year, with everywhere fully booked out.
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The town's motels, hotels, furnished apartments and the caravan park are all full-up with guests excited to check out everything AgQuip Field Days has to offer.
And there are still plenty of people trying to find accommodation.
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Gunnedah Tourist Caravan Park's Jenny Drury said she was receiving a lot of calls.
"We've been booked out for quite some time [but] I'm still getting 25 calls a day from people asking for a cabin, site or somewhere to stay," Ms Drury said.
Vacancies in some of the town's accommodation options won't be available for years, with guests booking back-to-back dates at the Gunnedah Motor Inn, the Billabong Motel, the Courthouse Hotel and many more.
The Plains Motor Inn owner Sonya Lumby said she was booked out for the next five years' worth of AgQuip dates.
"The only way I'm going to get new clients is if someone dies or a company goes bankrupt," Ms Lumby said.
For anyone still wanting somewhere to stay, they would need to look outside of town, with the proposed tent city on Donnelly Playing Fields not running this year.
A Gunnedah Shire Council spokesperson said this was because the tent company, Tent Town, wanted to research the amount of interest it may or may not have beforehand.
"The tent company are planning to do some market research [for this] year's field days so that they can document the level of interest," the spokesperson said.
"If there is an adequate amount, they will start planning for next year's event."
The council partnered with Tent City Hire in 2018 to co-ordinate the accommodation; however, it didn't run because the company did not reach the minimum number of tents needed for the hiring to go forward.
"We only sold eight tents; there wasn't enough advertising," Tent City Hire's Rebecca Whitmore said.
"We didn't quite hit what we needed to go to the event."
AgQuip will be held from August 20-22, and is expected to bring more than 100,000 visitors to the Gunnedah shire.
Jessica Worboys
Education and youth reporter at the Northern Daily Leader. Get in touch via jessica.worboys@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Education and youth reporter at the Northern Daily Leader. Get in touch via jessica.worboys@austcommunitymedia.com.au
