Learning all the Moving Parts: Choosing a Show Venue
BY ALLANREZNIK continued
their rings at 8 a.m. and with no other restaurants within walking distance, Strom-Bernard’s cluster “now provides a full buffet breakfast at our venue for the judges. It is very popular and has worked out well on a cost basis.” Clusters. Many clubs have gone from stand- alones to a cluster out of necessity. “The dwin- dling number of available show sites and open weekends is forcing clubs to merge,” says Brown. “The pros to clusters, in my opinion, are mainly convenience. It’s nice to drive to one show site, set up and be good to go for three to five days. That, of course, requires you to be a professional handler, retired or someone who doesn’t have a nine-to-five job. On the flip side, several of my friends complain that they can’t go to as many shows now because it would require them to take days off work. Since in this area the closest show can easily be six to eight hours away, many people just go to fewer shows. If the local clubs stayed local and were on separate weekends, they could attend, but unfortunately that’s not always possible.” Strom-Bernard acknowledges that working together with another club is “always a challenge but over the years, our two clubs, the Dog Fanciers of Oregon and the Tualatin Kennel Club, have worked extremely well together and it has continued to be a very successful cluster. We have members who belong to both clubs and communication is very good.” Stewards and staffing. “Ask yourselves if you have enough experienced club members to stew- ard at your show—and, if not, do you have the budget to hire a stewards club,” advises Tyree. In Brown’s case, “We have to hire a stewards club for our shows. That is easily $3,000 to $5,000 depending on the size of show. We manage it because we have no choice. The one positive thing I will say is that having professional stew- ards does help keep rings running smoothly and the scheduling of breaks and lunches for the stewards is someone else’s headache.” Strom-Bernard says “our club has a few members who steward but for the most part, we hire stew- ards, providing them with lunch and free park- ing. We do allow our members to exhibit dogs at our show so there is no doubt this cuts down on the number of available members left to steward. Our club is no different from many other all- breed clubs with an aging membership. That
means more jobs for which we have had to hire outside contractors. Our hospitality and clean-up crew are hired and they do an outstanding job. It works well for the crew we hire as they are land- scape professionals and it offers them employ- ment during a typically slow time of year. We host the Rose City Classic Student Art Contest too, and I have hired 4-H and sports groups to hang the pieces of art on display boards. With an average entry of 300 to 400 pieces of art it is too much for one or two people to complete in an evening.” Finding a suitable show venue that serves your exhibitors while coming in on budget is all about addressing a wide assortment of moving parts. Allow your club sufficient time to investigate the options available so you can make the very best long-term decision possible. ■
For more than four decades, Allan Reznik has been immersed in the world of purebred dogs: as a breeder, exhibitor, award-winning journalist, editor, broadcaster and occasional judge. He has been the Editor-in-Chief of multiple show dog publications, all of which have won national magazine awards from the Dog Writers Association of America while under his steward- ship. In 2011, he won the prestigious Arthur F. Jones Award for Best Editorial Column of the Year, given by the Alliance of Purebred Dog Writers. Allan appears regularly on national TV and radio discussing all aspects of responsible dog ownership and is quoted widely in newspa- pers and magazines. He has successfully bred and exhibited Afghan Hounds, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and Tibetan Spaniels, and cur- rently serves on the Board of Directors of the Afghan Hound Club of America and the Tibetan Spaniel Club of America. He is a member of the Morris & Essex Kennel Club, the Western Hound Association of Southern California, the Gateway Hound Club of St. Louis (charter member) and his two local all-breed kennel clubs.
90 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , O CTOBER 2017
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