Houston, Seminars And Hurricanes

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74 – August, 2024

By Wayne Cavanaugh

I’d never seen a hotel with its face ripped off, a scatter of metal, brick, and branches strewn across the lawn. The nine-mile ride from Houston’s Hobby Airport to the NRG Center was a grim reminder of Hurricane Beryl’s path. Just ten days before the Houston shows and seminars, Beryl came to town and left its mark. But the show club members and the DJAA continued to work through it amid difficult circumstances.

Houston was hit hard on July 8, 2024, when strong winds in the Houston area toppled at least ten transmission towers and felled trees onto power lines. As many as 2.7 million electricity customers in the Houston area were left without power.

Of course, the Wyndham wasn’t the only hotel hit by Beryl. Some hotels were damaged, others were still without power. Those that booked for the shows and seminars in good faith were sent scrambling for other lodging; others, understandably, didn’t come. And then there was more salt on the wound. The global technology meltdown left many of us stranded at airports on the way home. Like many, my flights were canceled and rebooked for the next day. As I write this, some show folks are still waiting to get home. Some others rented cars and drove over a thousand miles to arrive home before most planes.

But we in the sport are a resilient bunch. The show and the seminars went on smoothly and the spectator gate looked fairly strong. Locals seemed pleased to be out and about; as usual, Houston did a great job introducing them to the sport and to the benefits of purebred dogs. The show was full of vendors, special events, carpeted rings and lots of nice little touches. I didn’t see as much as I’d have liked but for a good reason–I was in the Advanced Judges Institute seminars from 8AM to 5:30PM every day for four days. By day four, the hard drive in our brains were full. It was well worth the hurdles.

Click here to read the complete article
74 – August, 2024

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Posted by AnthonyA on Aug 8 2024. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.