Bird Show Attendance Down?

[Sally]

I have read recently about several clubs that are no longer putting on a bird show due to low participation. It takes money and a lot of volunteer hours to put on a show, and it has to be very discouraging to go to that expense and to work that hard, only to have a low turnout at the show.

For example, if a club puts on an all-bird show, with divisions for finches, canaries, parrots, cockatiels, and budgies, first they must rent a hall that will accommodate the show. Many halls don't want animals at all. Most halls include tables and chairs, but the clubs have to provide the stands w/lights for the judging. Five divisions means five of these setups. These will belong to the club, and volunteers bring them to the show and set them up.

Then, the club has to hire judges--this costs money, judges don't work for free. Five divisions, five judges, though sometimes one judge can work two different divisions. Then come the volunteers--five show secretaries and five stewards for those five divisions. Usually one main show secretary, who is in charge of selling show tags and ensuring that all the divisions work.

In our club, we put on a lunch--our club pays for barbecue and drinks, and the members bring side dishes and desserts. Volunteers are needed to coordinate lunch and then clean up afterwards.

Many clubs have raffles or an auction in conjunction with their show. Once again, club members donate items for the raffle table and/or auction, run the raffle table and/or auction.

And at the end of the day, after all the ribbons, plaques, awards have been handed out, these exhausted volunteers can't wait for the next club meeting, where the show is dissected and ways to improve are discussed.

Our club is made up about 50% show people and 50% pet owners. Yet come show time, those pet owners were right in there with the show people, setting up the hall, assisting people bringing their birds into the hall, spending the whole day there asking where they could help.

For those who are in a city with a bird club, I recommend you get involved. Even if you don't show birds yourself, your help is needed at these shows, and you might even get hooked on showing. If you are into showing, dust off those old show cages and enter as many birds as you can. If the numbers are up, it is a win-win for everyone--the club looks good, the winners get points, and the club members have the satisfaction of knowing that all their hard work paid off.

Just my two cents.

[Martie]

Excellent post, Sally!

We are one of a very few clubs (as far as I'm aware) whose show is actually getting larger. We are thinking this year's show was the largest here in many, many years. But - this is definitely not the case in most of the U.S. You are so right about the work involved and it actually is a lot of fun to work with your fellow bird people to create a great event for your area. There is definitely plenty to do.

Really, really worth it!

[cindy]

Our club for our county no longer puts on shows, some shows of the local shows are put on by a gentleman and his family, they rent out small halls in Largo, Sarasota.

What is happening here is we have a cluster of back to back shows, by the time you get to the 3 or 4th show that month, attendance is down, the supply of birds, stock is down. Some people come to buy or just to look, it may be steady but some do not sell as much.

The shows need to be spread out a bit more, not so back to back or overlapping. We only have a few club shows in the area or you have to travel for it.

We also need new vendors and new blood lines for shows.

[Sally]

I'm mainly speaking about shows (competitions), rather than marts or fairs. Our local marts are put on by a man who does this for a business. He does donate tables for our club to have a raffle, which brings money into the club, but we do not put on the marts.

And perhaps I did put a little too much emphasis on how much work it is to put on a show. Yes it is work, lots of it, but we have so much fun doing it, I would volunteer even if I wasn't showing myself. Our club also has been growing our show, and part of it is members' willingness to bring entries, even if they aren't in show condition. They want to support our club. We had 125 entries in the Finch division at our show, and two weeks later, the Houston show had 100 entries, thanks in great part to three members of our club who drove down there with a van loaded with birds/show cages. I'm embarrassed to say I did not drive to San Antonio this weekend to support their show, I am determined to do that next year. We have one more show before Nationals, in Temple, and it should have a large turnout.

[30 Seconds to Bob]

I agree with Cindy. There are TOO MANY shows around here - TOO CLOSE TOGETHER. If someone visits a show with only a handful of vendors and a very small selection of birds, they are not likely to return.
The reptile shows I also attend (only held two or three times a year) have huge vendor participation and huge attendence. They have never been a disappointment. Bob