Learning all the Moving Parts: Choosing a Show Venue
BY ALLANREZNIK continued
your show is likely to draw and look for a site that will work best with that size entry. “Accommodating a 500-dog entry and a 2,000- dog entry are two very different things,” says Tyree. “We prefer a large covered area but if the smaller venue was all we had as a viable option we would take it,” says Brown. “Exhibitors love it when they have ample, free grooming and the vendors love it when they can be in the main exhibitor area. In the Southern USA horse arenas are popular venues. They are usually relatively inexpensive and have ample room.” Parking. “Plenty of, preferably, free parking is important since it’s often one of the first encoun- ters with your show an exhibitor will have,” says Brown. “If it’s a hassle to find a spot or exhibitors have to park half a mile away, they are going to start the day in a bad mood and we don’t want that.” “Every year at the Rose City Classic we field exhibitor complaints about parking,” says Strom- Bernard. “Some of those could be alleviated if exhibitors would take advantage of the reserved parking for the run of the show that we offer, and/or allow a generous amount of lead time for unloading and parking in advance of their ring time.” Food service. “Find out if there is a local food ser- vice, and if your show date conflicts with some other event nearby that would hire the same food service,” advises Tyree. She finds outdoor show sites easier in this respect. “Indoor sites often have catering restrictions, with no outside food allowed in,” which reduces options and can get expensive. Brown views food service as a lesser concern. “It’s fabulous when you can get a great food ven- dor (like our current site has) but I don’t think food is going to make or break a show. One thing our club does do, though, is offer compli- mentary donuts and coffee in the morning to exhibitors. People need their coffee!” Strom-Bernard encourages clubs to take advan- tage of bringing in local food carts that would likely be quite pleased to have a captive audience in need of a quick meal. “Some of these food carts are even tech savvy and allow ordering online. Our venue at the Portland Expo Center offers both small specialty food concessions in
one central area and concession stands that are located in each of the different buildings. The Expo Center has a small restaurant open during events that has a seating area as well as a bar, and it is quite popular with our exhibitors.” Porta-Potties. Is there a place within reasonable distance where you can rent these and are your show grounds accessible to their delivery? “While our club does not deal with Porta-Potties,” says Strom-Bernard, “we do shop ahead of time for companies that can offer an RV clean-out service at a reasonable price. Many of our RVs arrive Tuesday to Wednesday and stay through Sunday evening.” Tenting. “If the show site is outdoors tenting is definitely required,” says Brown. “Living in the South, I wouldn’t be willing to go to a show that didn’t have it so I wouldn’t expect any other exhibitors to either. Tenting can be a huge expense so if I had an option, almost any indoor site would be chosen over outdoors.” Hotels. This is a primary concern for your judges. Tyree says that “if we had two options, Hotel A charging $130 per night with a shuttle to take judges to the airport, and Hotel B charging $100 per night but requiring a club member to drive judges to the airport, we would absolutely go with Hotel A.” Ideally, the hotel has a restaurant on-site that opens early for breakfast and stays open for dinner. Failing that, there must be a restaurant within easy walking distance. Brown agrees, acknowledging that with the “dwindling number of working club members, having a hotel with an airport shuttle is a god- send. We are willing to pay up to about $50 a night more to have the judges at a hotel that has an airport shuttle and a restaurant. I want my judges to be happy. Happy judges make for a much better show!” Strom-Bernard says that while she is fortunate that her cluster’s host hotel offers an airport shut- tle as well as a shuttle to and from the show grounds, “we have one shuttle for exhibitors and a separate one for the judges. We have designat- ed club members who can take judges back to the hotel in between the shuttle’s scheduled times and this system has worked very well for us.” Because her host hotel does not serve breakfast early enough for the judges who need to be in
88 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , O CTOBER 2017
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