Community & Business
16 March, 2026
Goombungee gets Show ready
The 2026 Goombungee Haden Showgirls were announced at the annual Show Ball at the Goombungee Town Hall on Saturday night (March 7) as preparations ramp up for the 111th Show.
This year’s Show Society representatives are:
Open Showgirl:
Bridgette Langston
Junior Showgirl:
Harlow Harrison
Runner Up:
Ayla Tonscheck
Show Princess:
Clancy Gollan
Runner Up:
Matilda Gillies
2026 Belle of the Ball:
Isabella Taylor
2026 Matron of the Ball:
Lyn Fuller
The announcements of the winners by judges Emily Kenny and Kelly Blinco from Ag Force and Gianna Doyle were followed by responses from DJ Frankie who played the tracks “A Jolly Good Fellow” for the winning representatives and “20th Century Fox Theme” for the junior runners-up.
Dancers joined the families, friends and supporters of the Showgirl applicants to fill the Town Hall on Saturday.
There was only one entrant in the Open Showgirl category, and it was a person readers would recognise from a recent report on the Purple Poppy Service in Toowoomba.
Corporal Bridgette Langston, based at Amberley, has continued to maintain links with her home town.
A former Tiny Tot winner at the Goombungee-Haden Show, Bridgette has made the trip home regularly, raising $4,554 for the Show Society through colour runs, catering for bird sales and chook auctions, as well as running several raffles.
Bridgette paid tribute to her family, and thanked the Show Society and the wider Goombungee and Haden communities for their support of her Showgirl campaign over the past year.
Outgoing Showgirl and Darling Downs Showgirl runner-up Jacinta Langston, congratulated her sister, saying she had learned much about herself and the region through her own experience.
“What a year it’s been,” she said.
“I now better understand my worth as a young woman.”
Bridgette joked that listening to her sister’s speech made her extra emotional, given she normally never said anything nice about her!
All Showgirl entrants, who came mostly from Junior categories were polled on what innovations they would like to see at the Goombungee-Haden Show.
Answers received included more arts and craft categories, music participation opportunities, pony riding, sheep riding and bush dancing.
The Goombungee-Haden Agricultural, Horticultural and Pastoral Society may be one of the smallest on the Downs, but showed on Saturday that it is continuing to punch above its weight.
