Page 78 - ShowSight - August, 2020

LINES FROM LINDA
OVERCOMING THE ODDS
GREENVILLE AND PIEDMONT KENNEL CLUB SHOWS’ OUTSTANDING SUCCESS BY LINDA AYERS TURNER KNORR
Imagine what is possible if we retrain our brains to focus less on the inconveniences of our problems and more on the possible solutions. Obstacles blocking our paths become creative solutions!
Members of the fancy are continually doing just that. Proof of my theory was evidenced at the successful Carolina Foothills Dog Show Cluster conforma- tion events held in Greenville, South Carolina, July 23-28, at the fabulous Greenville Convention Center.
Following the first shows held in the South during the pandemic, I asked Cluster Show Chair, Kris Harner, to share with us how she and her team were able to put togeth- er such successful shows for the Greenville and Piedmont Kennel Clubs.
Harner replied, “The motivation to hold the Carolina Foothills Cluster dog shows was needing to get people back to work for upstate businesses and residents, as well as vendors and handlers. We also concentrated on keeping the community safe, while set- ting a foundation for others to build upon.”
“The work to get approval to hold the show was the most complex part of it all! I worked with the Convention Center General Manager, John Wilusz, the Visitors bureau, David Montgomery, and spending time with emails, phone calls, conference calls, online meetings, Facebook groups and trying to stop rumors and fearful people demonizing the whole thing. I contacted our State, County and City offices, including the Governor’s office. My goal was to formalize our plan and convince the powers that be to agree that we would be able to hold this event safely. The Convention Center and Visitors Bureau asked that we push to hold our event as this was a perfect event to start opening the facility, since we could create a detailed plan of how we could safely hold an event while mitigating the safety factors. There were many difficult hurdles, and things were touch and go many times during the planning process. At one point we couldn’t get a response from the City Manager, when the city was planning on cancelling all Greenville events.
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Show Chairs collaborating; GKC Chair Kris Harner with PKC Chair Suzanne Burns.