Sunday, August 20, 2006
What's 10 1/2 Hours Between Friends?
I left home around 2:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon and returned at half past midnight. What in the world could make me do that? The opportunity to sit in a meeting for five hours in Chapel Hill, about 2 1/2 hours away. And why would I be willing to sit in a meeting for five hours? Bunnies!!! of course.
The Sandhills Rabbit Fanciers club had a jam-packed meeting yesterday. Since we are hosting our main show next month, our program was Reviewing Show Rules. We played "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" or something like it. PJ Dvorak won 10 $100,000 bars and graciously shared them with his life lines and those who participated in the audience polls. The questions got hard pretty fast, so we gave him double lifelines. I think that everyone learned at least one new show rule.
We had lots to finalize for our September 16 show. This club really scrutinizes every aspect of the show to try to make it the very best we can. We also staff an educational display at the fair.
The really exciting part of the meeting for me was planning our Christmas show. Things are still fairly tentative, but it looks like we'll be having a NO ENTRY FEES show at Christmas. Instead, exhibitors will be bringing donations equal in value to their entry fees to donate to a charity. Sandhills and its sponsors will select the charity which will determine the type of donations. I personally am hoping for a food pantry, but it could be toys, or something else entirely.
If money is a little short in your household, you would have the opportunity to collect donations from family, friends, and neighbors, bring them to the show and show your rabbits for free. Your neighbors, friends, and family have the opportunity to make someone else's Christmas a little brighter, you get to show without stretching your already worn out Christmas budget, and the charity selected gets a hefty donation.
We will have a nice raffle table and food will be available at reasonable prices. We would love to find a corporate sponsor to pay our judging fee. If you know of anyone who would sponsor the cost of the judge, please let me know. If we make any profit from the sale of food and raffle tickets after expenses (now you see why a sponsor for the judge would be important), those profits would also be donated to the selected charity.
Now you see why I am so darn excited! It's a win-win-win-win situation!
But that's not all. Order in the next thirty minutes and you may get a bonus! And it's not a set of cheap knives, either. No, our club will also be checking into the possibility of having a Valentine's show in eastern NC. I have heard a lot of interest lately in that part of the state, so it's going to be a great opportunity for those folks to get involved and put on a great show. More on that later.
The project that I am personally most involved in is a series of Rabbit Educational Clinics for 2007. We are projecting seven clinics for next year. Five will be suitable for all breeders and exhibitors. Two will be focused on brand new exhibitors or those thinking about getting into showing rabbits.
We hope to hold one such program in the eastern part of the state and one in the west. We are hoping to partner with the NCRBA to have the program in the morning and a single show in the afternoon. Someone interested in showing rabbits could come to the clinic and perhaps even purchase their first show stock. Then, with a day of show entry, they could show for the very first time. We will need established exhibitors to pitch in and volunteer to mentor these new folks. Remember when you got started? If someone walked you through the steps, then you know how valuable that was to you. And if you had to figure it out by yourself, then you really know how much you would have appreciated the help.
The remaining five topics are Breeding Issues, Rabbit Health, Barn Environment, Posing/Proper Top Line/Evaluating Hindquarter/Photographing Rabbits, and How To Be A Show Writer, Show Secretary, or Show Superintendent (3 concurrent sessions). We have a lot of work to do to put them together, but please, if you live in the NC area, keep your eyes out for announcements and come out and support the Rabbit Clinics.
So, I'm pretty tired today after my lengthy meeting trip, but the time and energy were well worth it. I'm excited about all of this. I hope you are, too!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design ¶ 10:48 AM
The Sandhills Rabbit Fanciers club had a jam-packed meeting yesterday. Since we are hosting our main show next month, our program was Reviewing Show Rules. We played "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" or something like it. PJ Dvorak won 10 $100,000 bars and graciously shared them with his life lines and those who participated in the audience polls. The questions got hard pretty fast, so we gave him double lifelines. I think that everyone learned at least one new show rule.
We had lots to finalize for our September 16 show. This club really scrutinizes every aspect of the show to try to make it the very best we can. We also staff an educational display at the fair.
The really exciting part of the meeting for me was planning our Christmas show. Things are still fairly tentative, but it looks like we'll be having a NO ENTRY FEES show at Christmas. Instead, exhibitors will be bringing donations equal in value to their entry fees to donate to a charity. Sandhills and its sponsors will select the charity which will determine the type of donations. I personally am hoping for a food pantry, but it could be toys, or something else entirely.
If money is a little short in your household, you would have the opportunity to collect donations from family, friends, and neighbors, bring them to the show and show your rabbits for free. Your neighbors, friends, and family have the opportunity to make someone else's Christmas a little brighter, you get to show without stretching your already worn out Christmas budget, and the charity selected gets a hefty donation.
We will have a nice raffle table and food will be available at reasonable prices. We would love to find a corporate sponsor to pay our judging fee. If you know of anyone who would sponsor the cost of the judge, please let me know. If we make any profit from the sale of food and raffle tickets after expenses (now you see why a sponsor for the judge would be important), those profits would also be donated to the selected charity.
Now you see why I am so darn excited! It's a win-win-win-win situation!
But that's not all. Order in the next thirty minutes and you may get a bonus! And it's not a set of cheap knives, either. No, our club will also be checking into the possibility of having a Valentine's show in eastern NC. I have heard a lot of interest lately in that part of the state, so it's going to be a great opportunity for those folks to get involved and put on a great show. More on that later.
The project that I am personally most involved in is a series of Rabbit Educational Clinics for 2007. We are projecting seven clinics for next year. Five will be suitable for all breeders and exhibitors. Two will be focused on brand new exhibitors or those thinking about getting into showing rabbits.
We hope to hold one such program in the eastern part of the state and one in the west. We are hoping to partner with the NCRBA to have the program in the morning and a single show in the afternoon. Someone interested in showing rabbits could come to the clinic and perhaps even purchase their first show stock. Then, with a day of show entry, they could show for the very first time. We will need established exhibitors to pitch in and volunteer to mentor these new folks. Remember when you got started? If someone walked you through the steps, then you know how valuable that was to you. And if you had to figure it out by yourself, then you really know how much you would have appreciated the help.
The remaining five topics are Breeding Issues, Rabbit Health, Barn Environment, Posing/Proper Top Line/Evaluating Hindquarter/Photographing Rabbits, and How To Be A Show Writer, Show Secretary, or Show Superintendent (3 concurrent sessions). We have a lot of work to do to put them together, but please, if you live in the NC area, keep your eyes out for announcements and come out and support the Rabbit Clinics.
So, I'm pretty tired today after my lengthy meeting trip, but the time and energy were well worth it. I'm excited about all of this. I hope you are, too!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design ¶ 10:48 AM
