Shows interested in Hosting a Meet

[bantamhill]

I have received notices from two shows interested in hosting a meet. If any club members would like to request a meet at either show you will need to contact the district director.

Central Oklahoma Poultry Association, October 20, 2007 - Contact Paul Smith to request a meet.

Illini Poultry Show, September 15 & 16, 2007
Contact Jerry De Smidt to request a meet.

Michael Muenks
Secretary/Treasurer
Ameraucana Breeders Club

[Guest]

The Central Oklahoma Poultry Assn was the OK state meet last year.  I saw no difference in anything that they did.  They did not report any results or even acknowledge the entries as being part meet.  

Is this how this works?

[John]

Generally speaking show clubs don\'t do anything special for Special and State meets, other than listing them in the show catalogs and sending in the show reports to the breed clubs.
National meets get special attention and show clubs generally offer special things to solicite those meets, like a table and chairs, meeting room, choice of judges, kickback money to the breed club, etc.

[Mike Gilbert]

Wes, are you saying this show did not report meet results to the Ameraucana Breeders Club?    That is part of their responsibility for accepting a meet.    Beyond that it is up to members of the ABC to request/offer special awards for our breed.   But if reports are not forthcoming, and if it were up to me, I would notify the club that they would not receive future meets for two years and why.    
  It is always nice when the host club does put up an award of some kind, but does not often happen in the case of special or state meets.     For the special meet at the Badger Poultry Club special meet on June 2nd, another club member (who happens to be an ABC member also) offered a trophy for best Ameraucana bantam, and I offered $15 in cash awards for the bantams.   I don\'t believe anything special was offered for the large fowl Ameraucanas, but the ABC does offer rosettes.   In this case we had about 26 bantams by 6 exhibitors, and about 7 or 8 large fowl by 2 or 3 exhibitors.
My buff cock took best AOCCL and my blue wheaten hen was RB in bantams (I showed 3 bantam ams).    A non-member had best large fowl and member John Bashaw had reserve large on a brown red hen.
It has been my experience that the people who offer to furnish awards seldom come home empty handed.

[Guest]

Yes, I am saying that the COPA did NOT report anything back to the club for the meet last October in Guthrie.

[Paul]

  Angela and I have shown at the COPA several times in the past.  It is a nice one day show, but we haven\'t been able to spark any interest in Ameraucanas there.  I\'ve found that the SMPC show in Springfield, MO.-now moved to Sedalia is a lot better for showing Ameraucanas.  These two shows are usually on the same Saturday.  I sent the COPA a show report form last year with the request to have it a state meet.  I set Shawnee as our Ameraucana OKLA. state meet this year.

[Anne Foley]

As a secretary (not show secretary) for a poultry show (Gateway Show in Indiana) I feel that the whole concept of meets needs to be looked at-- both from the perspective of the breed clubs and from the perspective of those who put on the show.  As a club officer, I ask what there is to gain by hosting a special meet or state meet of a small breed club?  In our club, no one has ever noticed an increase in entries for a special or state meet.  Having page after page of special meets just seems pointless and a waste of space in our flier.  Providing extra breed trophies sounds good but it taxes an already tight budget.  Over the past 6 years or so (for which I have data) our average annual profit at the end of a show is about $600.  I think that this is not atypical.  Increased entries isn\'t really an answer.  More entries means hiring more judges and paying more fees and hotel costs, so it comes out about the same.  One idea that I have is that I would like to offer something to breed clubs that doesn\'t cost money but gets the breed advertised.  Like breed club members can sell their purebred stock for free if they place a meet with us.  Or, they can get a table to set up and advertise their breed.  Does anyone else have any fresh ideas?  I would love to hear them!

[John]

I feel that the whole concept of meets needs to be looked at-- both from the perspective of the breed clubs and from the perspective of those who put on the show.

You are right.  I\'ve been a breed club secretary and show club secretary.  As a show club we want all the meets from breed clubs that we can get, just because it looks good and allows some bragging rights to say we have 20 some meets.  Other than that there just isn\'t anything special about hosting a Special or State meet.  The breed club members that show and win get some benefit or award from the breed clubs, but our show club can\'t afford to give any specials for them.  Any extra money goes toward much needed new cooping each year.  I know it doesn\'t cost much to offer a table and chairs to the clubs, but it still costs a few bucks to rent each table.  The extra tables would take up floor space that isn\'t always available and I doubt that enough volunteers from the breed clubs would man the tables, since many of us would rather enjoy the show rather than be stuck at a table.  National and District meets are a different story.
I think the best idea is to have the breed clubs do as our ABC does and only place State and Special meets at the request of a club member that plans on showing at that show.  The Dominique club is the only other club, that I know of, that places meets that way.  I think it is an embarrassment to all when a meet is placed and no birds of that breed are shown.  Even that has happened with the ABC and the strict policy that we have.

[Blue Egg Acres]

 National and District meets are a different story.

What, is anything, should we request/expect for a district meet?

[John]

What, if anything, should we request/expect for a district meet?

I would expect at least a table and chairs so you have place to congregate.  Other than that maybe a meeting room if it is requested, perhaps an award or more from the show club and maybe early judging of your breed.  There isn\'t a pat answer, since each show club has thier own rules.