Royal Canberra Show kicks off at Exhibition Park

Organisers expect 90,000 people to come to the show over the three days. Exhibitors are coming from regional NSW and locals are flocking to EPIC too.

Chloe, 9, Pipa, 7, and Phoebe Wicks, 4, of Richardson, enjoyed the day out with their mum, picking up some prizes at the game stalls, buying showbags and eating food.

Vincentia High School teacher Marion Worthy and her students travelled to Canberra from the South Coast to showcase seven of their 17 alpacas.

Ms Worthy has been coming to the Canberra Show since 2014 and one of her alpacas, Charlie, has won a championship.

"The high school has an ag program and they asked me to train the school's alpacas, but they don't have any alpacas these days," Ms Worthy said.

"I tend to go to the shows where the kids can compete as a school team, and then I show my animals as well.

"They've all got different personalities, but they can all be so sweet and loving."

The alpacas participate in two competitions: one where school students are judged on how they handle the animals and one where alpacas are judged on their features.

Vincentia student Kaitlyn Walker, 17, will compete in the competitions, showing off some of the alpacas.

She said the perfect alpaca is judged on straight teeth, with no overbite or underbite, and an unblocked nose.

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"Then you go to the eyes and make sure that there is no cloudiness and the eyelids aren't folded in or out and that they are bright," Kaitlyn said.

"Then you go up to the ears and make sure there is no kink or bends in them; it's got to be straight, not shaped like llamas.

"Then you go down the neck, make sure it's straight and then down the backline, you check for body sores, then you go down the tail, check that there's no kinks, and that's it."

Kambah couple Brain Quade and Lynne Stevenson had not been to the show in more than a decade, but brought their four-year-old granddaughter Evie to her first show.

Evie enjoyed seeing the alpacas and the horses and eating an ice cream cone, and was eager to ride the ferris wheel and see the baby animals.

"We haven't been here for a long time, but we're really looking forward to seeing the animals and the baby animals," Ms Stevenson said.

"I grew up here and so we used to go to the show years and years ago. That's the beauty of it. It hasn't changed much, still lovely, family oriented and it's lovely to bring our grandchildren now.

"We're lucky this weekend, there is no rain. Usually you get at least one day of rain, but it's just been beautiful."

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