April 4th – Specialty Update #2
Hold onto your hats — things are coming up at a fast and furious pace for our National Specialty. Only one month to go before the show!
First of all, so many thanks to the dozens of people who have stepped up to help us in so many ways! We are so very grateful.
UPDATES
WE MADE OUR HOTEL ROOM NIGHT GOAL!!! We are thrilled and want to remind you that our block is only being held until April 7, so if you’ve been thinking about coming, we urge you to make your reservation before then or run the risk of not getting a room. Also, we’ve heard from several people about problems with their reservations. We are working with the hotel on this. If you’ve had any problems during the reservation process, please let us know so we can work with the hotel to rectify it.
WE MADE OUR TROPHY FUND DONATION GOAL! Thanks to some extremely generous donations, we have made our trophy goal! We don’t have exact numbers (we’re still waiting on that final ribbon total), but it looks like we will even have a small rollover to help next year’s committee. There’s still time if you want to make a donation and get listed in the 2023 catalog — there are still some classes left to sponsor, and general trophy donations are always welcome. Make your trophy donations here https://deerhoundstore.com/product-category/trophies/ The deadline is April 8.
WE ARE SOOOOOO CLOSE ON OUR CATALOG AD GOAL! As of this writing, we have reservations for 30 catalog ads! This is fabulous, but we need just two more to meet our budget goal. So if you have been debating about running an ad and need a tie-breaking vote, we vote yes! Here is more information on ads https://deerhoundspecialty.org/catalog-ads/ The deadline is April 8.
WE MADE OUR MERCHANDISE GOAL: Thanks to the many people who ordered more than 275 items of our specialty merchandise! We had to submit our order already, so orders are closed for most items, but limited quantities of glassware and umbrellas are available while supplies last — you can order them here https://deerhoundstore.com/product-category/specialty/ . Remember — we are not shipping glassware, so if you are not coming to the show, arrange to have a friend pick it up for you. We can ship umbrellas.
REMEMBER, ENTRY INCOME MAKES THE SPECIALTY GO! Whether you enter running events (see below), conformation, or obedience or rally, it all helps a lot!
SPEAKING OF OUR CONFORMATION SHOW, don’t forget that entries close on Wednesday, April 19. Want to know more about our conformation judge? Read all about him here https://deerhoundspecialty.org/a-little-more-information-on-our-judge/
Want to know what dogs you are looking at when you get to the show (and see all the fabulous ads), the conformation and futurity catalog pre-order deadline is April 15. Only limited quantities will be for sale at the show, and at a higher price — pre-order your catalogs to make sure you get one! https://deerhoundstore.com/shop/specialty/catalogues/2023-specialty-catalogs/
COMING IN AN RV? If you are planning on parking your rig at the hotel, please let us know. All of the RV information can be found at https://deerhoundspecialty.org/rv-reservations/.
WHAT’S NEW
RUNNING EVENT PREMIUM LISTS AND SCHEDULES ARE POSTED: We are offering an unprecedented, absolutely fabulous line-up of running events! Here is more information and links to all of the premium lists and entry forms: https://deerhoundspecialty.org/coursing-site/ For the first time at our Specialty, Fast Cats are being held right at the hotel and our LGRA and coursing events are being held at Sandscrest Retreat, a 4-mile drive, 10 minute drive, from the hotel. There are JCs, QCs, and puppy fun runs, too! Our photographer will be at all events to capture great shots of your dog! And this year our videographer will be filming all of our Specialty running events!
THE AUCTION AND RAFFLE is now accepting donations! A highlight of the show for many people are our auctions (silent and live) and raffles. To make these events a success, we ask EVERYONE to bring at least one auction or raffle item and just drop them at our Hospitality Room. Items can be shipped if you are not coming to the show, and we hope to have proxy bidding, too (see below for our call for a volunteer). And we have a line-up of fabulous items for our special raffle this year. Here is more information. https://deerhoundspecialty.org/auction/
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
We got a great response to our last request for volunteers — so many thanks! Here’s what our current needs are:
Video Narrators: Narration adds so much to our videos. We need people to sit next to the videographer (which is the best seat in the house to watch the judging) and read the names of the dogs as they are being judged. Take a look at the schedule https://deerhoundspecialty.org/schedule/ and sign up for blocks of time.
Auction/raffle proxy bidder coordinator: We need a point of contact for people who see our auction items online and want to bid. Must have a cell phone and be available during our auctions.
Meal ticket takers: We need people to take meal tickets at our lunches and dinners. All you need is to show up a few minutes early for the meal and take people’s tickets as they arrive.
To sign up for any of these volunteer opportunities, please contact Betty Stephenson. Click here to contact Betty
COMING SOON!!!
Meals: As we all know, food prices have soared in the last year, so it is taking some alligator wrestling to come up with club meals that are as affordable as they are delicious. We will post meal information as soon as we can.
Videographer: We are still working out the details, but we will have some great options for people who want to buy specialty videos but don’t want DVDs. Stay tuned!
Once again, we are so grateful to the many people who have stepped up to help. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate it.
Jodi (Chair), Jana, & Miranda (Co-Chairs)
