Saturday June 19. 2010

A crisp yet cloudy morning dawned over the Klamath area as the early light saw training groups fanning out into designated areas to get in one last session before meetings this afternoon.

Merchandise, contestant and worker packets were made available by late morning at Shiloh Inn, headquarters, with packets in the hotel lobby and merchandise in the upper level parking lot and both areas were heavily trafficked.

The RAC (Retriever Advisory Committee) meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. with the National information meeting at 3 p.m. and bitch check immediately following at 4 p.m. All of this takes place at Mazama High School.

More to come... including many photos...
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Soon, the lobby at the hotel was abuzz with handlers and workers that were looking for both those handler packets and worker packets. Merchandise was also supposed to set up in the lobby, but due to a wedding and other functions in the hotel, the entire merchandising and vendor operation was moved to the upper parking lot at Shiloh, as mentioned previously. As you can tell from the photos, most folks made the change quickly and merchandise moved rapidly. Folks were anxious to head in the direction of the meetings by just before 2 p.m.

Shiloh Inn functions as Headquarters for this National Championship stake.

Retriever enthusiasts zoomed in on the available merchandise. Most popular sizes of most things were gone quickly.

Some of the action around handler packets is seen here.

David Carrington from Avery conducts business from the parking lot on his trusty cellphone

Meetings were scheduled at Mazama High School beginning at 2 p.m. but as folks arrived, the building was found to be locked up tight. With proper paperwork filed, someone hadn't opened access so the meetings were moved to the lawn of the school. Chairs were brought out from dog trucks and rental vehicles by those that had them while others sat on the ground. The first meeting--RAC--started about 25 minutes late. This wasn't a major concern as the past few RAC meetings have been somewhat brief, but this one became rather "discussion oriented" over a few rules and judging scenarios and time pushed into the following meeting. That being said, the second meeting for the National business and information was called to order at 3:08 p.m. This meeting was not concluded until nearly half past four and people disbanded in groups as committees convened and the bitch check commenced. Only about an hour remained before the cocktail party, which was slated for 6 p.m.