As any purebred fancier knows, holding dog and cat shows on Long Island is a challenge at best. Exhibitors from off-Island are repelled by astronomic hotel-room rates and equally cosmic traffic delays. Venues with the space and inclination to welcome animals are fewer and fewer.
This year, the cluster of Queens-based dogs shows held in late October was forced to leave Flushing Meadows Corona Park. It was bad enough that the Bronx County Kennel Club had their Sunday show in Flushing, but at least it was the same area code. Next month, the Bronx club's show is in Augusta, New Jersey.
And the Queensboro shows on Friday and Saturday have moved to ... West Springfield, Massachusetts? Who knew that the towering Unisphere at their old Queens digs would turn out to be so prophetic: Now you almost have to travel around the world to go to a Queens dog show.
The latest local casualty is the Paumanok Cat Fanciers show. Joan Bernstein reports that the January 2008 show is now "no longer a reality."
With the loss of their regular show site, Sports Plus is Lake Grove, the popular Long Island cat show has gone looking for a new home. "I've called everywhere," Joan says. "No high school gymnasiums -- allergies. For hotels, no animals on the premises where food is served."
The biggest obstacle, not surprisingly, is cost. The only local university with a reasonable rental fee required that the show hire their "decorators" and purchase $20,000 in carpeting for "floor protection." A popular catering hall said yes, but because they'd lose two weddings and a bar mitzvah, the rental would be $60,000.
The Paumanok show needs a "gate" -- that is, admission fees from spectators -- in order to break even. When your show is in January -- they can't change it, as other dates conflict with other cat shows -- a bad case of the flurries can mean thousands in lost revenue.
Joan isn't hopeful about finding a site on Long Island, Walt Whitman's fish-shaped Paumanok, for 2009. Angels of mercy can contact her at joanbernstein@optonline.net.
