Society president Tony Harris, of Portobello, said attendance was up on last year. About 300 spectators watched equestrian events such as hack hunts and show-jumping, took part in tugs of war and bought produce from an array of stalls.
A highlight was the Peter Ruck Memorial Trophy, where riders took on a large obstacle up to 1.2m high to contest the leaping championship, he said. Competitors also battled it out in a "tough-guy" event which included cutting timber with 19th-century handsaws, riding a mechanical bull, sheep-shearing and a tractor pull.
Children at the event were invited to participate in a mass planting of native tussock grass to spell "Portobello".
Peninsula residents Betty Lamond, of Company Bay, and long-serving former president Howard McGrouther received life membership awards in recognition of the more than 40 years service they had each given to the society.
"We are greatly appreciative of their efforts . . . both of them made an enormous contribution," Mr Harris said.
The show is one of the oldest in New Zealand and has been held since 1877, when MP William Larnach started the society, he said.
