The Show Layout

Westminster has done their best to make the place look like home. The club’s colors and logo define the territory the moment you arrive at the Piers. Even so, long time Westminster exhibitors better brace themselves for a shock when they enter this big, rambling show site. Overall, you will probably come away from the experience will a feeling of déjà vu.  It’s sort of familiar, but something is not quite right.

Westminster has provided plenty of signs and diagrams, which makes it pretty easy to find your way around. In that respect, it’s nothing like the magical mystery tour that exhibitors faced last year trying to find their way between the two exhibition areas.  But that doesn’t shorten the distance to ….well…everything! If you need to find a restroom, exercise your dog, or get a snack, it’s a whole new ballgame. Although you don’t face the challenge of navigating massive crowds, absolutely nothing is steps away.

Think Crufts, not Westminster

The benching area is extremely spacious. At each pier, benching is situated between the rings at each end. If you happen to have dogs in two or more rings, plan to do A LOT of walking. The worst case scenario happened to more than a few people today. Their dogs were benched on one pier and showing on the other one.  Bring your running shoes or enlist some help before you get to the show. The exercise pens were set up outside the doors, which generally entailed a long walk. And don’t forget that this site is right on the Hudson. It is very cold and windy out there!

On the other hand, the new venue is paradise for shoppers. The vendors have plenty of space. It’s nothing like the frenzied marketplace atmosphere we’ve all come to associate with Westminster. You can browse and take your time. Likewise, the food courts are large with SEATING! (And needless to say, they are not cheap).

Most frequently, long time Westminster fans commented that the atmosphere just wasn’t the same. No, it didn’t include frenzied mobs of spectators and camera crews jostling for space in an overheated benching area with dogs and exhibitors packed like sardines. Before, during, and after the show, the travails of Westminster benching was a perpetual source of complaint for exhibitors.  Ironically, now that it’s gone, we suddenly realize that it wasn’t so bad after all.

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Posted by Amyfernandez on Feb 11 2013. Filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.