par Karl DonvilMechelen celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Almost 200 more entries turned up to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show of Mechelen
(1376 entries in total).
And that is no problem for them, as the Nekkerhalls are very modern, large and bright and offering plenty of space for at least 500 or more dogs. The halls offer enough space for parking too.
I love to work in those halls as they are bright inside. The rings were very spacious too. The only problem for big halls is that when they are not fully occupied they give an empty impression, but I had the impression that there have been a lot of visitors. And although some people complained about the lack of commercial stands, I don’t think this was the case. Those halls are really big and can easily give a false impression. Anyway, as far as stand holders told me, they were very pleased in general. Probably they will come back without any hesitation.
The main ring was beautiful, with flowers around and carpet inside. All other rings didn’t have any carpet and perhaps this could have given a more cosy effect to it all. The timing was strict and the main program gave a very smooth impression as like all judges took about the same time for every group. This is not always the case, as some take all the time and forces the next coming judges to hurry. This was not at all the case here.
Instead of our regular cups the winners were given Belgian Porcelain produced by the famous brand Royalboch. It was a funny impression to see the Best In Show leave with a soup bowl in the hands. It can be useful anyway and it certainly has its value and as a collectors item.
Exhibitors came from as far as the US, Ukraine and the UK, but as usual, the major part were from Belgium and its neighbouring countries. Most judges were Belgians (12), but some of them were or specialists in a breed or judging new breeds. In that case it is justified and the curiosity factor of the exhibitors is still very high. But some serious efforts have been made to invite foreign judges too. For the Poodles, Bichon Frisées and Boston Terriers, Mr Berg Kenneth was invited from the USA and he had a very nice total entry of 94. For the Dalmatian specialty on this show, two judges were invited. Mrs. Eva Berg from the USA and Mr.Charles Cyopik were invited and they had 80 top specimen to judge, coming from all parts of Europe.
Besides judges from Croatia, Estland, Holland and Germany we had also a few big names on the list (at least for our area) like Mr. Terry Thorn from the UK, Mrs. Heidi Kirschbichler and her daughter Steffi from Austria and Mrs. Lisbeth Mach who is very loved and often invited in Belgium.
The group finalists were a surprise to me. Usually you see more glamorous breeds win their groups. Here it was a nice and typical Bouvier, who was not over-trimmed and had the Belgian look. Second was a Dalmatian and this sounds logical to me. A winner over 80 entries should be a nice specimen at it was. Third place went to an Irish Wolfhound, but I was particularly happy with the 4th place as this was the Dachshund. Usually they end up 9th or 10th. I always wonder why, but probably they are less impressive as most other breeds. It looks to me that a judge needs to have lots of courage to put them higher. Check the statistics for it and you will agree with me, at least for Belgium.
Tide has changed and most shows are regaining their former glory compared to a few years ago. Perhaps this was necessary and made most show organisers think in another way. The shows look much more international and this certainly resulted in increasing interest and more entries. This applies for Mechelen too and they can feel confident for an upcoming next 25 years.
