Many NSW rural towns held their first Agricultural Show long before Manilla Show Society was founded in the early 1930s. Essentially of similar purpose, the Farmers' Carnival, established in 1906 by the Farmers & Settlers Association, had been the popular form of rural exhibition in the 30 or so years before Manilla’s first 'show' was held on March 2nd and 3rd, 1932. It was a great success, as reported in "The Land" newspaper and apart from three years during the second world war - 1942, 1943 and 1944, when community routine was interrupted, Manilla Show has been held every year since.