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WYOG’s 35th Annual Fruit, Flower, Vegetable & Produce show - 2026

This year’s show will take place in the usual venue, ie Exhibition Building, Shipley College, Exhibition Road, Saltaire, BD18 3JW on September 12th.

It’s been a difficult growing season so far with an early mix of sun and rain but recently some relentless spells of scorching heat so it’s currently difficult to predict how things will be looking by September.  However, it’s always worth keeping an eye out for things which might make good entries and it’s always worth putting something in.  We’ve had years when a first-timer has won Best in Show!

The schedule has been updated following suggestions last year so there are new classes for non-alcoholic drink, peas - dried plain cooked and best collection of 5 items from the schedule.  The culinary herbs class has been amended to “Culinary herbs: 1 bunch of single herb or samples of 3 different herbs in jam jar”.  The full schedule can be found below.  Please note that there will be no on-line registration this year as the uptake has been low. 

The café will be running as usual with drinks, cakes and samosas.  Unfortunately, we are unable to safely offer a full menu since the college kitchen was upgraded. 

There will be a good range of stalls.  Our friends from Pextenement Cheese are no longer producing cheese so the search is on for a replacement.  We wish them well for the future. 

Most of all, we need volunteers to help,  in advance by making cakes, etc, and on the day with judging, stewarding, registration and helping in the café so please make a note of the date and get in touch if you can help.

2026 Potato Day! 

Potato Day in Saltaire in February was a great success.  It was cold but generally dry so the queue went round to the back of the building, being possibly the longest ever.  34 varieties were on sale, 21 of which were organic.  Sales at the start can only be described as frantic which may be why they became very quiet towards the end. 
  
The poet John Hegley on his way to a far smaller event at the Otley Courthouse, had offered to come and do a turn.  He did two songs and a couple of poems, written over lunch in our café, all on the theme of potatoes.  He managed to get the crowd joining in on one of the songs, a first for Potato Day, and was absolutely brilliant throughout.
   
After the event, the remnants were put on sale the following weekend at Brackenhall Countryside Centre and then a week later in the pop-up stalls in the new Darley Street Market in Bradford. While the sales at the latter weren’t massive, we did connect with a different audience and the event was felt worthwhile.

WYOG Exists To Support & Promote Organic Growing

Its origins go back to 1955 as part of a Yorkshire-wide initiative to promote organic growing at the Harrogate Show. In 1975 the county wide group split into Mid Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Sheffield who were all branches of the Soil Association which co-ordinated these groups until 2007. WYOG started its own organic show in 1989 which continues to this day and entries are only judged on taste and not looks. WYOG also runs a potato day which sells 40 + varieties of seed potatoes, many which people cannot get from anywhere else.

WYOG sometimes organises plant swaps or wine tasting events. It has this web site which is full of advice and information on growing, organic news and innovations so please have a look around and join our mailing list for news of our events.

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