Shine On, Harvest Moon Classic
Photos by Remy Smith-Lewis
The Harvest Moon Classic cluster is a marriage between two all-breed clubs, Skyline Dog Fanciers and Del Valle Dog Club, which now hold their annual shows in Sonoma County, far from their territories of San Mateo and Livermore.
Like many clubs today, "territories" don't mean much. I think when some years ago the Queensboro Kennel Club by necessity moved to West Springfield, Massachusetts, it spelled the demise of territories. For us, this change was the result of our former home, the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, raising our rent 100 percent, which would make it more than $200,000, and of course along with the Covid years.
All that said, we are back!
This was our third year at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. It's a great site in the heart of Wine Country during the height of harvest. Our show had something for everyone, and I'm not exaggerating. As we've always done, we had many designated and concurrent specialties, along with welcoming the Bearded Collie National Specialty. We've expanded our shows to include agility, CGC and Trick Dog testing, 4-6 month puppy competition, a Pee Wee class, Miscellaneous and FSS breeds Open shows, ATT temperament testing, a handler and crew appreciation comedy event, and last but not least the new AKC National Owner-Handled Series Regional Event. We had many exhibitors thanking us for offering these extra events. If you are hoping to build your entry, we highly recommend adding these special events.
We were the second of eight NOHS Regional Events that will take place around the country. The first was the Arapahoe Kennel Club in Colorado. They made their event very special and set a high bar for us, who followed them, and we thank them for sharing some of their ideas and sources. This event brought in 243 additional entries, and we saw some breeds we don't normally see at our events. We were adamant that the judges for this event were approved for all the breeds in that group. We used three of our members, which helped defray judge expense. Overall, we felt this event was a success and hope that we might host another in the future. We want to thank AKC's Glenn Lycan, who shepherded this event forward and was a great help to us.
Our event is always the 42nd week on the AKC Corresponding Date Calendar, which will be October16-19, 2025. We hope we'll see you and your dogs next year.