FRIDAY'S Scottsdale Show crowd traditionally starts to gather after about 5pm and that is exactly why George Town expatriate Angela Baker was there in the morning.

Mrs Baker moved to the Gold Coast from George Town 26 years ago, but gets back to visit her extended family as often as she can.

"The Scottsdale Show is a great day out with the grand children, nieces and nephews and early on it's not too busy so you get to see everything you want to without having to battle loads of people," she said.

Among the attractions at yesterday's opening day were the historic machinery display, chainsaw sculptor Eddie Freeman and magician Alex de la Rambelje, aka Alex the Magician.

Each held yesterday's patrons spellbound as their weaved their respective magic and while Mr Freemen will not be at the show today due to a previous commitment, Alex the Magician will perform regularly throughout the day.

Also attracting plenty of interest was John and Barry Blenkhorn's trailer-mounted model quarry.

Barry said their late elder brother Noel made all the models.

"He built the working crusher some 60 years ago, before adding the face shovel, truck and so forth," he said.

"It all used to be in boxes and was really hard to set up, so I built the trailer and incorporated a rail line — it used to take Noel a couple of days to set it up and put it away. John and I had the display working within a couple of hours of arriving this morning."

Show secretary Maria Branch said today's offerings included include a working sheepdog trial and chainsaw racing demonstrations.

Today's show runs from 7.30am-2.30pm — entry costs $12 for adults and $5 for children.