Greetings Western Waterslager Members!
Well, we have done it again. We have completed another successful and
memorable Song Contest. This year’s show was held in Davis California
again. The major change we made was the new hotel. The judging room this
year was larger and more accommodating for observers. We have a number
of first time visitors join us throughout the weekend. One of the visitors,
Steve Grunow, was the lucky winner of a Waterslager hen donated to our
Sunday raffle by Edith Vermeij. Steve is ready to roll into breeding season
with his new hen along with a very nice cock purchased from Darrell. We
are hoping Steve will be joining us in the competition next year.
This year’s judge was Robert Mittemeijer. Robert has judged for us
before and we were very fortunate and grateful for his presence again.
Our exhibitors mirrored previous years with Val and his family joining
us once again from Utah. Tom Trujillo even made the trek from Arizona.
Sebastian, once again, opened his home, his heart and his refrigerator
to host our judge for the week. We are extremely fortunate for his commitment
to our club and for his outpour of generosity.
Bonnie and Ella started the weekend off with a bang. Hospitality night
was not only beautifully decorated, but what a spread! Bonnie’s husband,
Jamie, surprised us all with birthday cake and champagne in honor of Bonnie.
Well, all of us except that sneaky Ella who helped coordinate the surprise.
In his usual outstanding form, Richard Rolloff , assisted by Val, was
in charge of the holding room and stewarding. They both did a fabulous
job. Richard arrived 2 days early to prepare the holding room and the
judging room. He and Val teamed up with their early morning and late afternoon
feeding rondevous in addition to keeping the teams flowing into the judging
room each day.
This year we added a new dimension by having bird sales. Edith and Ella
were in charge. Members were asked to bring birds for sale and in return
for the opportunity and exposure were asked to donate 10% of their proceeds
to support the club. Bonnie generously offered her hotel room to hold
the sales since we didn’t have a separate room available.
Last but not least, we were once again blessed with Darrell and Liza Horst.
Liza worked creating beautiful signs before the show. They both handled
the registration without a hitch, kept score all weekend, and then set
up and presented the awards at the banquet.. Kudos to this dynamic duo
once again!
Our banquet was held at Sudwerks in Davis. You will find the show results
posted along with this letter. The food and service were both great. It
was a nice close to another great reunion.
I would like to wrap up by sharing with our members that one of our original
members, Ella Galik is retiring from birds. She and her husband John are
planning on relocating to San Diego and spending some retirement years
traveling in their new motorhome. Ella has plans to sell all of her birds…………oops
change of plans! She has inadvertently fallen in love with a handsome
Waterslager male. This little guy is already learning to travel, and may
be in your neighborhood seeking a one night stand during breeding season!
Ella has been an avid supporter of our club and has co-chaired our show
for a number of years. She nearly always takes home a ribbon or trophy
and has always donated generously. Although she may not have any teams
next year, she has agreed to steer her motorhome our direction and co-chair
our show once again. Hopefully these small doses of bird exposure will
help her rise out of the depression she will experience by not having
cages to clean, birds to feed and babies to band. Remember Ella we are
all here to help………any day of the week!
In summary, I would like to thank everyone for their patience, understanding
and support this year. We had a few little glitches, but we know that
comes with life. All in all the weekend was another great experience.
We listened, we learned, we ate and we laughed. What more could one ask
for?
I am looking forward to next year, once again.
Sincerely,
Donna Gary
Show Co-Chair (with Ella of course!)
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