On Saturday, January 28th and Sunday, January 29th, Clumbers and their owners from the tri-state area (and Maryland) joined together in the Clumber Spaniel Club of America’s booth at the AKC Meet the Breeds event at the Javits Center in NYC from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. 30,000 dog lovers streamed through the Javits Center over the two day period and many of them saw a Clumber in the flesh for the first time and others learned about a breed they had never heard of before and saw how special the dogs are.
On Saturday, the dogs ranged from Colleen Kimble’s almost 7 month old male, Khepri, who enjoyed many belly rubs, to Susan Field’s 13 year old female, Blossom, who showed the younger generation how to power nap! Pia Murphy and Robert Crary brought Jasper, a 6 year old male, who was quite taken with Hayley Tamburello’s 14 month old female, Esmeralda, as was the crowd. Esme took a page from Khepri and started accepting belly rubs, too. Noelani Randazzo came with two large photos and stickers for kids of Sully, a two year old male, who was a bit under the weather the day of the event but was certainly there in spirit! Noelani also brought technology to the booth with a QR code for visitors to quickly access the CSCA website. Sarah Hewitt participated with Kate, a 9 year old female, who had met the press the day before, appearing on WPIX channel 11 for an AKC TV promo for the event with an English Cocker Spaniel and an American Eskimo dog.
On Sunday, Sarah and John Donnangelo brought Winston, a 4 year old male who is the Clumber fast cat champion at 25 miles an hour, who brought lots of energy to the morning, especially once Jessica Cunningham arrived with Arthur, a 6 year old male. Kim and Lindsay May brought Birdie, a 7 year old female, and Finn, a 7 year old male, and helped close out the day with Sarah Hewitt and Kate, who by the end of the second day was glassy eyed. Kim shared with all the volunteers her own professionally made bandannas and collar flowers in a beautiful Clumber plaid with a cream Clumber cut out which complimented both orange and lemon markings of the dogs as thank you’s for participation in the booth.
Many thanks to Catherine Cleary who was also there in spirit through her wonderful booth decorations perfected over 14 years plus a few new additions introduced by Sarah and Noelani and to Colleen Kimble who encouraged so many of the volunteers to attend! A wonderful time was had by all humans and canines.
