Showsight - January 2022

SHOW CHAIRS NEVER SIT

MARILYN PIPES CHAIRPERSON CHISOLM TRAIL CLASSIC CLUSTER CLUBS, BELL COUNTY KC AND STEPHENVILLE TEXAS KC 1. What is the name of your show/cluster? Our cluster is the Chisolm Trail Classic of the Bell County and Stephenville Texas Kennel Clubs. 2. Where are your shows held? When? Our shows are held at the Bell County Expo Center, Belton, Texas, over the third week of October (Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday). 3. Can you please provide a brief history of your club? The cluster began in 2010 due to the Stephenville KC losing their venue. Bell County KC graciously invited us to partner with them to have our shows. It has been a great working relation- ship and has allowed Stephenville to continue in viability as a show-giving club. The Expo Center has made improvements to accommodate the dog shows and is very responsive to our needs. It is busy with many other activities (craft shows, live- stock fair, horse competitions, concerts, etc.) but has not taken advantage of dog clubs that have a limited ability to contend with expensive venues. Stephenville KC has been in existence as a conformation show and obedience trial club since about 1980. Due to lower entries in recent years and the additional workers needed to hold obedience trials, we let our obedience approval lapse a few years ago. Marilyn Pipes has served as Show Chair for the past six years. Stephenville KC Show com- mittee consists of Marilyn and Willie Pipes, Lynda and Mel- vin Misegadis, and Donna Svien. Bell County KC began in the early 1980s under the name Funtier KC of Greater Killeen, as an obedience trial club. In 1996, conformation shows were approved, and in 2008 the name was changed to Bell County KC, with Belton, Texas, as home. In addition to conformation shows, Bell County offers both AKC obedience and agility tri- als on different dates than the cluster show. George Armstrong has functioned as Bell County KC Show Chair for the past two years, having assumed the role from Sandra Schmidt who had stepped down due to health reasons. George is assisted by Danelle Brown and club officers Ed Eldridge, Terri Boedeker, Linda Stanley, and Darryl Schuller. 4. How are the following accommodated at your show/clus- ter: Parking; Grooming; Bathing; Hospitality; Vendors; Public Education? The Expo Center has ample parking and is located just off Interstate Highway 35 between Austin and Dal- las. Parking is free and the Expo Center also has RV spots for rent on the grounds. They also help with grooming needs such as electricity, and provide a number of electric outlet banks for dryers and clippers, etc.There are two wash bays available in the portion used by the shows, and places to set up public ex-pens. The clubs provide clean-up bags for exhibitors outside the main building and at the hotels next door to the Expo Center. The Expo Center provides waste barrels inside and outside for use by exhibitors. Bell County KC handles vendor management.

For the past three years, the cluster has utilized the volunteer services of the Southern Handlers Charity group to set up and “police” the reserved and free grooming spaces at the show. This group marks off the spaces using a map provided by the Stephenville KC, which is responsible for collecting the fees for reserved grooming spaces. Both clubs make a donation to the SHC Foundation for this help. The clubs pool receipts for vendors, grooming, and entry fees and reconcile with shared facility costs, etc., and split the net results equally. The cluster takes advantage of public education provided by the AKC Rep. This past year, we had New Exhibitor Orientation and a dem- onstration of the use of the wicket and scale. 5. Does your show/cluster offer the National Owner-Handled Series? Junior Showmanship? 4-6 Month Beginner Pup- py? Best Bred-By? Specialties? Supported Entries? Yes, we always offer the NOHS! We offer Junior Showmanship and 4-6 Month Beginner Puppy, although we usually don’t offer this on all four days since it is so tiring for the puppies. We have, in the past, offered Best Bred-By, though not recently. This is due to the difficulty of finding additional people to judge these special Groups (Best Puppy, Best Bred-By, etc.) and having so many activities going on at the end of each judging day. Owner-Handled Groups are well received and have con- tinued to draw more participants. We continue to have several “Bell County KC graciously invited us to partner with them to have our shows. It has been a great working relationship and has allowed Stephenville to continue in viability as a show-giving club.”

86 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, JANUARY 2022

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