Wednesday, September 7, 2011

FLOODING FORCES CANCELLATIONS

Flooding at Site of North Branch Cluster 

This week’s shows comes with a reminder of how we are all subject to tragedies and disasters.  The Carroll County Kennel Club of New Hampshire has cancelled it’s two shows this coming weekend in North Conway NH in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.  Hussey Field, the club’s show site for 27 years, was flooded by the Saco River and inundated with silt, mud, & debris. 

Just this morning, the County Fairgrounds in Bridgewater NJ notified Moss-Bow-Foley and the Central New Jersey Hound Association, the Non-Sporting Group Club Of The Garden State, the Big Apple Sporting Society, the Tuxedo Park Kennel Club, the Somerset Hills Kennel Club, & the Westchester Kennel Club that the park would be closed through the weekend and all events would be cancelled.   The North Branch Cluster would have been one of the largest entries in the Northeast this year.

That leaves us with 26 all breed shows in 11 locales in the lower 48.  In the Great Lakes region we have four clubs doing the traditional Saturday/Sunday thing, the Altoona Area Kennel Association in Ebensburg PA, the Clermont County Kennel Club in     Owensville OH, the Pontiac Kennel Club in Davisburg MI, and the Kenosha Kennel Club in Wilmot WI.  The Des Moines Kennel Club will do the same in their Iowa hometown.

The ambitious West Central Oklahoma Kennel Club will do fours shows by themselves in Elk City OK.  The fun starts Thursday.  Biloxi MS got nearly a foot of rain from Tropical Storm Lee, but fanciers will be indoors for today’s Mississippi Gulf Coast Toy Breed Club limited breed event and the Singing River Kennel Club Of Mississippi and the Mobile Kennel Club  four all breed shows starting Thursday.

UFO enthusiasts and dog lovers can both have fun at this weekend’s Rio Pecos Kennel Club in Roswell NM.  The Rocky Mountain All Terrier Club & the Metro Mile Hi Kennel Club (Toy) will do Friday limited breed preliminaries to the Evergreen Colorado Kennel Club’s two all breed offerings in Greeley CO this weekend.

We have two options for West Coast residents, both of the two day variety.  In the Northern California town of Petaluma, the Redwood Empire Kennel Club will host and in Brownsville OR the Eugene Kennel Club is planning two shows.

Our thoughts and prayers to all those who were affected by the recent bad weather and for those battling the wild fires in Texas and elsewhere.  If you can make it to an AKC show this weekend remember how lucky we are.

5 comments:

  1. My goodness, I couldn't even imagine what these families are going through. My heart and prayers go out to everyone effected by this.

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  2. Billy,
    Your last paragraph was kind, thoughtful and true....

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  3. there is a nice residental community around that park. I feel awful for those people

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  4. It is so unfortunate that this has happened to this very special cluster of shows, but I can't understand why the participants were not notified earlier than they were. The grounds were pretty questionable a couple of days ago, and many were within an hour of the show site after haven driven over 10 hours before they were informed.

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  5. I spoke to a club member late yesterday (Wed) afternoon. Through yesterday morning, the club and the county park commissioners were trying to find a way for the events to go on. Ultimately, they couldn't figure out how to park all the vehicles and get the trucks in and out to put up the tents...let alone having the tent stakes hold in the ground. It's just been too continuously wet in this area for too short a time. It's really disappointing to everyone who loves these shows.

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