Eastern Ontario Labrador Breeders Association

Back to Back Specialty Shows
Saturday September 15, 2018 and Sunday September 16, 2018

Eastern Ontario Labrador Breeder’s Association - 2018 Specialty Show Chair’s Report

Our longtime exhibitors, supporters and guests will no doubt recall, that EOLBA has always been known for our relaxing and fun atmosphere at our shows. Many will recall back to the days of shows at Lake Ontario Park, one at SD&G and later, at Rideau Acres Campgrounds; the good times we’ve enjoyed together. With the change of time came other changes, out of our control, which necessitated a bit of a break while we re-grouped and planned anew. On a personal note, during that time a new arena was built just 3 km from our home and each time I passed it, I literally fantasized about what a nice flat field it was and how much ringside parking it would allow. (Am I the only one who suffers from this)?

Well, fast forward to September 15 and 16, 2018 and you folks have made my dreams come true!!! The weather gods were a little overzealous on the temperature, (one American exhibitor told me that I ordered the perfect weather, only for the 4th of July)! But the weather could have been a LOT worse. Given the National show had shaped up for the following weekend and breeders across the country, including many of our own members were all gearing up to make the trek over the BIG bridge to PEI, we felt our entries for our first stand alone, back to back, Fall specialty were absolutely wonderful. (79 Saturday and 77 Sunday, including sweeps, regular and unofficial classes). A wonderful panel of regular and sweeps judges, a supportive executive, hard working show committee members, an extremely helpful show secretary (assisted by dogshow.ca), show/prize sponsorship from the wonderful Royal Canin, a generous group of class sponsors and we had ourselves a brand-new SHOW!

The weekend went off literally, without a hitch. Again, the help that the committee (thank you so much, to Dawn van Nostrand and Jennifer Anderson) provided behind the scenes was fantastic, as was the feedback we received about the new venue. Drive up parking, easy loading, indoor restroom facilities and close amenities were mentioned to me several times. Nearby campgrounds seemed to be more than satisfactory for our campers and while Napanee itself doesn’t currently have hotels that are overly pet friendly, (thus a 25 minute drive to the closest one that is), the good news is that Comfort Inn is currently under construction in town, about a 3 minute drive from the show.

As any show chair knows, the task of writing a show report is both fun and dreadful. The fun part is talking about all the joy we had watching all the beautiful dogs in the ring and enjoying good times with these other folks who exhibit dogs, who have all become such valued friends and in many ways, our Labrador Family. We travel among the pop up trailers and tell jokes and enjoy good times with one another, we admire the beautiful adults and we gush over the new adorable puppies and we cheer each other on. We enjoy the lunch (thanks to all who contributed) and we ask each other what’s the next show they’re going to. We congratulate each other and are truly pleased for the winners, whether it’s us today or not. The dreadful part about writing a summary report of the show, is the part where I fret about remembering to thank all the people who were so kind and generous in helping, especially this year, because it took a great deal of that kindness and generosity and helpfulness, even before we ever made it to the show site. Given our re-birth after our break last year and given many factors, we were so happy to have folks who weren’t able to attend this year, but who wanted to show their support for our ongoing success with a Fall specialty. We had donations to our general show fund (thank you Carol Ethridge and Carla Vautour) as well as to our general trophy fund (thank you Mary-Anne Lauzon, Dana Scott, Jane Wewer and Sue McDermid). We also thank our wonderful group of class sponsors, as well as corporate sponsors. A complete listing of these class and corporate sponsors are on the EOLBA website and were published in our show catalogue. A HUGE thank you to the Belleville District Kennel Club for their kind loan of ring equipment and to their President, Pat Hunt, for being our Show Secretary.

I would like to personally thank Chantelle Bennett for assistance with everything from set up on Friday afternoon to take down on Sunday afternoon, as well as running errands, getting ice both days and more water and then graciously donating them to the club, rather than accept reimbursement. Thanks also to Mike and Laurie Quenneville, Chris Burrows and Jennifer Anderson who came over to offer assistance on Friday afternoon, after arriving from their hot drives. Luckily, Pat Hunt, Chantelle and Harold had the ring up and due to security concerns about leaving too many club assets out overnight, the remainder of the set up took place Saturday morning. Many helping hands joined in, in the morning, to make the work lighter.

Several folks donated food items to our lunch and morning snacks, thank you to everyone who did. Thank you to our many friends who donated items to our silent auction table. The silent auction was a huge success and will help offset many show expenses. Thank you to those folks who assisted with getting the items out and the silent auction pages written up and to Dawn for looking after the collections and tabulations for the auction. Thanks also to the folks who donated their Sweeps wins back to the club, how kind and generous!!! Thank you to Fil and Gina Craver for your kind donation of wonderful prizes for our Sweeps, everyone loved them and the few remaining were at hit in the auction.

I could not possibly name all folks who offered to assist me given my mobility as I moved about, but everyone was so helpful and I thank you all. Peter and Carol Brech volunteered in many capacities. Peter served as Show Superintendent (without a badge *S*) and Carol was our Sweeps judge and afterward, throughout the weekend, as Ring Steward. Both mornings, Carol and Peter helped us to load up many trips to our van and Carol drove me in my vehicle so Harold could finish up at home and drive another vehicle. Nancy and Gerald Dagley did the same on Sunday morning. At the show, these 4 and several others, including Carol and Chris Burrows, Brenda Francis and her son Colton, Mary-Anne and Geoff Lauzon, John Sharpe from Royal Canin, Chantelle Bennett, Pat Hunt, Amanda Samis and her niece Shaylin all helped in so many ways. Again this is the part where I dread that I have been remiss in thanking someone and “THAT” my friends, …. speaks to the VAST number of friendly and helpful, supportive people that we had at our show. Even in the heat, it seemed everyone was happy, smiling, ready and willing to assist any way they could. I could probably simply cite the entire exhibitor list, to accurately reflect my gratitude to all.

In summary, a huge thank you to Dawn and Jennifer, who carried out a number of very important tasks and roles and to everyone named (or unnamed) above. A huge heartfelt thank you to Harold for once again, supporting this crazy lady and carrying out all the many, many things he does for us.

To our Judges and our Exhibitors, thank you to the Moon and Back!!! Congratulations to our winners.

Good luck to all attending the National. So sorry I won’t be there. As a Member Club of the LRCC, we wish the organizers of the show every success, we commend you on a job WELL DONE and wish you all good luck, fun times and happy trails. See you all next year!

Linda Wyatt-deGroot

President & Show Chair, EOLBA