The trip to and from any National is often long and tiring, but the time at the National is always great! My trip had it’s glitches but not as bad as some others’! As always, there were important issues there as well as times for friends, visiting, and just enjoying other fanciers. Many events were a combination of both! I’d like to share some of the highlights I experienced and I apologize for things I missed. There is so much to do and so little time, it seems!

The Central Oklahoma Golden Retriever Club did a wonderful job hosting this year’s National. I honestly can’t remember any issues arising. If there were any problems, they must have done a great job covering them up!

As is always the case, there is never enough time to see everyone and do everything. But seeing old friends I may only see at National Specialties and also having the honor of meeting new ones or putting faces on the names of people I’ve met online (and often become quite close friends with) is something I always look forward to. While the dogs and competitions are always the reason we gather, the social and educational events are important as well. And the annual meeting of our club is important as well.

The Top 20 Gala was delightful this year. As I hope you realize, the proceeds from this event go to support research, rescue, and education via the Golden Retriever Foundation. Seeing the beautiful dogs that have dominated our conformation rings over the last year was breathtaking. What a wonderful event!

As usual, Judy Word did a phenomenal job selecting special and unique artwork for both the silent and live auctions. Michael Faulkner once again was the auctioneer and his quick wit and upbeat comments kept it lively and entertaining. If you haven’t attended in the last three years, I have to say that Michael has really made the auction very entertaining!

There was a touching moment when a beautiful jewelry set featuring Goldens was auctioned, donated by Alan Bedford and his son Robbie, in memory of Joanne Bedford, Robbie’s mother and Alan’s past wife who passed away from cancer several years ago. This lovely piece was won by Barb Rollins after a lively bidding war and was the highest priced item sold in the auction this year. What a beautiful donation in remembrance of a wonderful person.

Barb Zelchoski announced the new STAND TOGETHER challenge at the Gala. Briefly, several top donors pledged matching funds if the GRF can raise the amount they collectively pledged. The original goal was $100,000 but the donors pledged $140,000. So keep this in mind when you want to put your money behind our Goldens in the area of research, rescue, and education. Be sure to check out the website about the new study approved to help us find answers on ways to prevent, treat, and raise our dogs in ways to help beat lymphoma and hemangiosarcoma in Goldens, also.

At the annual meeting, there was discussion about future National Specialties. As many of you may already know, a National Specialty Event Coordinators’ Task Force was formed and they have now presented their thoughts concerning their research on issues facing our annual National Specialty. Now it is time for all GRCA members to read this information and share your thoughts, suggestions, and desires for the future of our National Specialties. The committee did a wonderful job explaining why they back the suggestions they made. Whether you agree or not, it is important we each read this to know what was behind those decisions.

I am thrilled that the board is reaching out to the membership for our ideas on this issue. Every club should work this way but with the size of the GRCA, it has been difficult. The internet opens this option up to us and once again, the GRCA is utilizing this method of communication. So please take the time to read the report and share your ideas, pro or con, concerning the task force’s suggestions. Because of the size of our National specialties now, often with over 1000 Goldens entered, it has become very difficult, if not impossible, to continue the way we have in the past. http://www.grca.org/thegrca/taskforce.html Of special interest is the area on judge selection. One option was to offer the members the ability to vote on judges, with varying methods of doing this. Another idea some support is having the National at the same location each year. If you have feelings about these issues one way or another, make your opinions heard!

One of the most fun “new” things at this National was the Tailgate Party on Tuesday following the completion of judging. What a great time! While I know we don’t need to add another event to our National schedule, this was certainly a fun time and very informal. All that was involved was people bringing food and beverages to the grooming area, setting up their spread, then mingling about. I have to admit that I absolutely loved this! With all of the scheduled events and planning/pre pay set up of many programs at the National, it is nice to have a casual, but planned, informal get together to visit with anyone and everyone who cares to come that you can attend last minute depending on how you feel (no prepay or prescheduling!). The original intent was to have one central area with food and drinks, but it seemed it covered almost the entire area. I hope this informal event can continue as it is nice to be able to get beyond the structured scheduling sometimes and have something like this with the sole purpose of visiting with other Golden people.

Of course, the last day with Best of Breed is always the grand finale and very impressive. This year, in conjunction with the theme GO NATIVE, there was a fabulous opening to Best of Breed featuring American Indians from different tribes sharing song and dance with us. The costumes were amazing and the gentleman playing the drum and singing as well as narrating was wonderful. Yes, it was just like in the movies listening to the songs he sang! Each of the three dancers were national champions in competitions in this area. If you’d like to see some homemade videos of this, as well as the specials entering the ring, visit YOUTUBE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNxNN5C3iB8

All too soon, it was over. The presentation of awards following the Best of Breed, Best BBE, and Best Puppy concluded events. Then it was off to get home. Unfortunately, snow storms and other storms made travel for many treacherous and delayed, but I didn’t hear of any major problems other than delays. I personally had flight delays both to and from the National. On the way home, I arrived in Cincinnati 5 minutes after my flight to Columbus left! So I was put on standby with a flight 3 hours later (and it is only one hour’s drive from Cinci to Columbus) but everyone had checked in, so my guaranteed flight was 6 hours later! Luckily, two people didn’t show up, so I got the standby flight and made it home before 9 pm. But it was well worth it! I hope everyone enjoyed this National as much as I did! Thanks for the laughter everyone shared! It was great!!!