Page 172 - ShowSight - October 2019

WHO’S RUNNING THE SHOW?
EPISODE ONE: Dr. Michael Knight cont’d.
I became the Texas Kennel Club Show Chairman in 1999. In those days, we had two shows a year with Fort Worth Kennel Club and Trinity Valley Kennel Club. We also held a Specialty Club Show Day. Four-
teen years ago we decided to move back to our own territory. Fort Worth had a great show and a good building for their shows, therefore, they decided to remain in Fort Worth.
The Texas Kennel Club formed
a new Cluster with Greater Collin
Kennel Club and Trinity Valley
Kennel Club. We also offered a
Specialty Club Show day. Our first
two shows were held in the
downtown Dallas Convention
Center. It was a beautiful location
with very bad parking, another
lesson learned. In listening and
responding to our exhibitors con-
cerns we moved our venue to
Dallas Market Hall. It is a great
show site and venue with fantas-
tic parking for our exhibitors! We
allow our exhibitors to drive in
and unload right by their setup
space. Our vendors have the same
option. Over the past several
years, we’ve grown our Specialty
Day from three Specialty Clubs to
32 Specialty Clubs. We now offer two Group Shows and sev- eral other activities such as a Judges Seminars and Meet the Breeds. We are so grateful to have a fantastic and very in- volved AKC Rep in Sue Vroom. Her counsel and support has been incredible. She is always willing to offer an informative and educational program for our visiting judges and ex- hibitors. Our Cluster made the decision to pay for all of the expenses of our Specialty Clubs. Additionally the Specialty Clubs are welcome to choose a judge from our All Breed Shows’ panels. This saves the Specialty Clubs the cost of the hotel and travel expenses for the judges they have chosen from our panels. We pay for each Specialty Club’s catalog and ribbons as well. I sat down with one particular Specialty Club who was suffering due to a lack of funds in their treas- ury and came up with a game plan to help them. Through a fantastic fund raiser we were able to increase their treas- ury by $42,000 which allowed them to continue to put on their specialty the way they want to and give the trophies
and prizes they wanted to offer. Collectively, the three clubs decided, before the very first Cluster weekend, to divide and share profits and losses equally. We rotate our Friday, Satur-
day and Sunday All-Breed Show days every show giving each club the benefit of having a Saturday or Sunday show date. Our Cluster is blessed with wonderful volun- teers from all three Clubs. Each Club appoints four members to be part of our Cluster Committee. We meet monthly to plan and prepare for our four-day Cluster weekends which we have two times a year ( July and December). The Cluster Committee is always working on the next idea to run our shows more smoothly. We do whatever it takes for our exhibitors to have a great show weekend. All twelve of our Cluster members bring their individual skills to the table in an effort to have a great event.
It takes a lot to put on a show with an average entry of 1,800 dogs. We do not choose judges from our local area, or the five surrounding states, unless they are provisional judges. We want exhibitors to show under judges from other parts of the country
(and world). Our hope is to encourage exhibitors and han- dlers to bring their dogs from all around the country to our Cluster Shows.
We run our Cluster like a business. We need it to be prof- itable to allow for all the extra items we want to offer. We donate, from our fund raising efforts, to certain children’s and cancer charities. We also offer an “ugly sweater” and a “best holiday decorated grooming setup” contest for our ex- hibitors.
There are many pieces to the puzzle in preparing for and putting on a dog show today. Show dates from the American Kennel Club have to be applied for, special consideration given concerning neighboring shows, ensure show site venue date availability, venue contracts, special electrical pricing, A/C cost, plan for decorations, ring layouts, fire mar- shal concerns, golf cart rentals, superintendent contract, pre- mium list creation, clean up crew contract, security contract and schedule, hotel, flight and dinner scheduling for the
judges as well as transportation/pick up from the airport scheduled, arranging for EMT serv- ices, photographer, police, valet and parking staff contracts must be obtained and signed. The list goes on and on!!!
The editor wishes Dr. Thanks to the efforts Knight congratulations of my Junior Showman-
170 • ShowSight Magazine, october 2019
ship Chairperson, Mandy
Smithers, we have a
strong list of Juniors that
turnout at every show.
We have grown our Jun- 10/5/19. Photo by Jean iors Program from five
Edwards. Junior participants to be- tween 40 and 50 Juniors at each of our two shows. Purina and our Purina Representatives, are also very generous with offerings of gifts and prizes. >
on his many successes and thanks him for being first in this new series.
Devon Dog Club