Ocicats International/Southern Region Fundraiser
from Jacqui Bennett, show manager

The Little Show that Could or HOLD MY BEER

When a traditional show that averages 180 entries tries to do a fundraiser for the region and gets a count of 114, it looks pretty grim.  But when hurricanes and a variety of things conspire to make murphy proud hits all at once and hits your gross profit by several thousands of dollars, the amazing people of the Southern Region come through with a vengeance.

Small, but mighty, the show went on with great fun, great cats and unparalleled comradery.  I can't thank enough the amazing generosity of the show team including judges and clerks and club members, our great local exhibitors who donated raffle items, helped with set up and tear down, as well as helping decorate 2 of our rings, and even stepped in and ran the concession on Saturday while I was judging and took care of gate and raffle tickets.

I am also thankful of the amazing appetite of our 69 exhibitors who ate all the home cooked food for the concessions making sure I didn't have to bring home any pork, beef, chicken, cole slaw, or macaroni and cheese!

 

National Capital  Show
from Mark Hannon, show manager

National Capital held its show September 9-10 in suburban Washington, DC.  It was the largest CFA show held so far this show season.  There are many extras that make this show so special.  Each year the show features one or two breeds.  This year the Exotic was the featured breed. The show tries to both educate and entertain the many spectators and this year the show had its best gate ever.  There was a Breed Presentation Ring, lots of breed booths, Agility, and a very popular feature at this show over the years has been the Meet & Greet area right by the front door.  Two of three cats and their owners are at a table where the visitors can pet the cats and ask questions of the owners.  The exhibitors take turns throughout the day so the cats don't tire and the owners can enjoy other aspects of the show.  There was a crowd at this area all weekend.

 

The slate of judges include some of CFA's most popular judges and that included Danny Tai who flew in from Hong Kong to judge his first USA assignment.  Danny is very popular at CFA shows in Asia and the National Capital exhibitors had many compliments about this fresh face judging in Region 7.

 

With Hurricanes Harvey and Irma on our minds, Regional Director John Colilla conducted a 50/50 Raffle to raise funds to help felines in need.  He raised more than $1,400 which was split between the winner and the relief fund.  The lucky winner was kind enough to donate back $200 from their winnings so more than $900 went to the cause

How did the show attract such a large gate?  This year they placed ads in the Washington Post and commercials on a local radio station, as they have in the past.  This year they advertised heavily on Facebook and tried out Groupon.  140 tickets for two or for a family were purchased via Groupon and the show achieved more than 95,000 views on Groupon.  While Groupon tickets are sold at a discount and the company takes some of the sale price for themselves, the show likely was exposed to many people who would not have known about the show otherwise.