We (It's A Dog's Lyfe) were sponsors and vendors at this years Critter Fest. A dog event put on by the Blount County Humane Society. The BCHS is trying to build a no kill shelter here in Blount county. The Critter Fest is just one of their projects to gather donations. I was happy to be a sponsor and it was an added bonus being a vendor too. There were 4 "levels" of sponsorship, the highest (and most expensive) was Gold which was the Great Dane Plan. The 2nd highest level was Silver and here's where they got me. It was the Border Collie Plan. It was for a worthy cause so I have no regrets having spent so much on a sponsorship. Plus I got a really cool plaque to hang on my wall.
We had a lot of fun and saw a LOT of dogs! There were all kinds of rescue organizations there with all sizes and breeds of dogs. Two Great Dane rescues so we saw a lot of those. Jenna was very happy as there were tons of Poodles. Not sure if they were just visitors or not but one group had a huge pack of black standard Poodles. All groomed very nicely one with a Continental clip. I doubt these were rescue dogs. I was able to speak to the Border Collie rescue lady and we are both gung ho about starting up a stockdog club and getting people interested in starting a herding class and possibly put on some trials. I guess there used to be an organization here before that folded 8 or 9 years ago. We might try resurecting that club. She has an open trained dog and she and her husband used to trial. She knew a lot of the same people I do so it was really nice talking Border Collies again with someone in the know. I'm going to start looking around for some land to lease so we can keep some sheep and work our dogs.
Anyway, I feel the event was a success for us. We didn't bring in a lot of money, but we were mostly there to get our name out and meet some of the dog people in the community. Yesterday the president and founder of the Blount County Humane Society stopped by our shop just to meet us and say hi. He had a copy of my newsletter in his hand and said he really liked it. Suzanne from Border Collie rescue, and I have decided next year we will put on sheepdog demos for the Critter Fest. Poor Seth hadn't been to an event for quite a number of years and those were all festivals where we did demos. He kept looking for sheep. I felt really bad.
The other good thing relating to business is a local radio talk show host is trying to organize the shop owners in this area to form a group and call ourselves East Broadway 3 Mile Mall He has really good plans for advertisement and community involvement in supporting local businesses. I have eagerly joined forces to try to make this plan a reality. In exchange for my participation and support I will get to have a plug and possibly a short blurb on the radio station.
Things are really coming together in an accelerated way. Our roof is done and looks great. I am going to rent the building next door and it is being painted and the roofing almost done on it too. We will be painting it to match this one and eventually Jill and Carl will put a business in it. They aren't sure yet what kind of business, but a Celtic gift shop seems to be the popular choice so far.
Here are a few pics of our booth at the Critter Fest
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