John Bennett, the society's Ringmaster, was thrilled to see a total of 170 entries for the horse show jumping events after the Nowra Show was cancelled last year due to COVID.

"We've got record show jumping entries with about 170 horses competing, which is an enormous number for us to get through," he said. "Normally we set the maximum at 140, because that's a fairly full day for our judges and students.

"It's great to see all of the people here again - from the stock horses, to the Olympic standard riders and the costumes - these horses really are the best of the best."

Mr Bennett said one of the highlights of the day was watching Michelle Jarrett and her Arabian horse Malaquii J-S, who were both decked out in purple adornments and bells, take out a blue ribbon for the native costume class.

"It was so fantastic to see the native costume...you don't always find somebody to put that sort of effort into come to a country show. Good on that exhibitor for doing that."

Last month, the Nowra Show Society were thrilled to receive over $43,000 as part of the NSW Government's $5 million Country Shows Support Package, which assisted with putting COVID-safe protocols in place for the 2022 show.

Mr Bennett said he was grateful the event was able to still go ahead and while he expected a large turnout, he noticed there aren't as many Sydney visitors this year.

"People are so grateful for the extra effort the show society needed to do to put the show on," he said.

"I think people sort of reluctant a little bit to travel from their different areas, which usually we get a lot of Sydney people come down. But that's probably quite sensible given the circumstances.

"We've got a good day, a lot of locals here, and it's been great to be able to put something on."

President of the Nowra Show Society, Mark Stewart, said there were a lot of nerves leading up to the show but echoed Mr Bennett's sentiments that it was wonderful for the event to go ahead.

"There's a lot of nerves on the first day of the show and that's just because everyone's invested so much energy into it," he said.

"It's an event that's been going on for 145 years so there's a lot of passion in its delivery.

"We've got some great weather and we're expecting a big turnout."

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