The Big E – Exceeded Expectations

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138 – June, 2023

By Elaine Lessig

Who knew? For months there were so many questions surrounding the move of the 147th Westminster Kennel Club annual dog show to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York. “Flushing, New York? Where in the world is that,” so many inquired. Well, sitting right near LaGuardia Airport, and Citi Field–home of the New York Mets baseball team in the boro of Queens–the center is in a highly trafficked area where commuters travel through to get to and from Manhattan to the West and Long Island to the East. How was this ever going to work? Let me say, unequivocally, it worked perfectly.

The show succeeded for many reasons. Primarily, it was the dedication of the thoughtful, hard working, creative Westminster Kennel Club Show Committee members who committed themselves to making all the pieces fit. Let’s think about completing a 5,000 piece picture puzzle in five minutes. In an impossibly short period of time, the committee set a course to provide all in attendance a superior experience. What more could be done by a club which had so little time to surmount the obstacles they encountered. “Nothing,” I say. The 2023 Westminster Kennel Club Show exceeded all our expectations.

The USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center is an imposing site. At its center is the vast Arthur Ashe Stadium which provided indoor breed rings in the daytime and the group ring for the evenings. When I entered the stadium to get to the rings, I stood awestruck. The entire stadium was decorated in the purple and gold colors of Westminster, so reminiscent of the days at Madison Square Garden. With the seating all around the tall stadium, the big screens, the sound of the announcer, the cheers of crowd, the sight of the dogs as they entered the ring, somehow, it all felt familiar and exciting.

Click here to read the complete article
138 – June, 2023

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