A&P Showgrounds

Clevedon A&P Showgrounds & the Totara Avenue of Remembrance

87 Monument Road
Trail marker #16

Agricultural and Pastoral (A&P) Associations are at the heart of many rural communities across New Zealand as a way to promote and celebrate farming and rural life, showcase livestock, encourage new farming trends, and provide a community hub where town and country can connect.

The Clevedon A&P Association was started 1909 and continues to this day.

  • Starting with a membership of 124, the first Clevedon A&P Show, as four more would be, was held 4th November 1909 in Alexander Bell’s paddock, then beside the butter factory (now the Clevedon Kindergarten) and directly across the road from the Monument-Hyde Rd intersection. Cattle, sheep and pigs were penned in Buckland’s Saleyards near the corner of what is now Monument and Hyde Roads.

    In January 1912 the Association purchased 21 acres from Cunningham Atchison for 25 pounds per acre. The land had to be cleared, stumped, drained, ploughed, grassed and fenced before being fit for show purposes. Planning for sports grounds was incorporated from the outset, with parts of the grounds fenced off for tennis and croquet lawns, bowling club and rugby and later cricket, athletics and mounted rifles. In 1916 the grandstand of the old Papakura Racecourse was bought and relocated to the site.

    By 1920 show entries had risen to 436.

  • The A&P Association continues to this day with a two day show offering horse trials, rural sport and exhibitions, carnival rides, friendly farm animals and a great range of farming vendors and product suppliers.

    Across more than 115 years only four shows have been missed – in 1918 because of the influenza epidemic, in 1947 for the polio epidemic, in 2020 for the covid epidemic and in 2016 due to poor ground conditions after heavy rain.

    The show is now hosted on new grounds to the south of the original park where the weekly Clevedon Farmers’ Market is held. Over the years, the land was sold to Manukau City Council and the council purchased additional acreage to complete the grounds as they are today.

    The entire site still bears the name A&P Showgrounds, (Clevedon Showgrounds Reserve) with the northern portion of the site now dedicated to sporting use that continues to grow with the community.

    Visit www.clevedonshow.co.nz to learn more about this year’s show.

  • You can enter the A&P Showgrounds via the Avenue of Remembrance, where in March 1951 a Totara was planted and dedicated to each deceased resident who served in the Armed Forces of the Crown overseas during hostilities or in the New Zealand Land Wars.

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Location Map

You are currently at Heritage Trail Location #16, A&P Showgrounds

Ready to see the next site? Follow the path highlighted on the adjacent map or follow the directions below to reach your next location:



The Blacksmith, 21 Papakura-Clevedon Road (approx 1.2km)

  • Next site:
    The Blacksmith, 21 Papakura-Clevedon Road (approx 1.2km)

    At the top (western end) of the Totara Avenue of Remembrance, turn right toward the Sports Club and follow the path north, past the skatepark and through the carpark (note public toilets are available here).


    Head back towards the village along Monument Road. Turn left down Hyde Road, then right on Papakura-Clevedon Road. Continue north along the main street to the Monument and cross with care to the west side of the road. Continue approx 150m to 21 Papakura-Clevedon Road (currently a retail store ‘Cache’).

The information for each site has been thoughtfully prepared in collaboration with the Clevedon Districts Historical Society, drawing on Voices of Belonging by Jessie Munro, Yesteryears by F. Murray, and records from the McNicol Homestead Museum. Together, they tell the story of Clevedon and the people and places that made it the community we know today.

A special acknowledgement to photographer Donna Jepsen for her work capturing these sites as they appear today.