"Montogomery 2001" by Takemi Sugimoto

The wonderful festivals of Terriers “Montgomery 2001”were held at many different places from Oct.2nd to Oct.8th ; the headquarter was the Best Western Hotel in the suburbs of Philadelphia in the US. It is said "Montgomery Show" is the biggest show of all the Airedale shows in the world, and every Airedale fancier in the world watches it every year. I had been one of them and my dream was to visit the Montgomery Show someday. It had been hard for me to make my dream come true because of my work. But this time I finally made it. I would like to thank Nancy in the US, Margaret in Canada, Dr.Humpton the president of ATCA and the other friends for their great help.

I took an airplane from Narita to Philadelphia via Chicago and arrived in Philadelphia at 1:30pm on Friday. My American friend Nancy and her aunt, Marie were there to meet me. We headed for the Best Western Hotel which was to be the headquarter of the festivals, stopping at Mrie's in the suburbs of Philadelphia to rest for a while.

The regular auction began at 5:30pm. It looked like there were at least more than 100 items which had been donated by the members of ATCA. I heard that a lot of collections of Viginia Saurwein who died last summer were among them. Although I thought I had seen a lot of Airedale goods myself, most of them were new to me. Some of them looked very expensive. And there were unique goods such as a white Airedale statue made of limestone, a box of tiles with a wonderful painting of Airedale puppies, a sitting Airedale statue made of cement, an Airedale doll made of French glass. There were many antique goods,too. I heard many unique goods were made in 1930's when Airedales were very popular. I bid some of them and knocked only one down.
At last the banquet started at 7:00pm. The dinner was buffet and there were many kinds of foods; roast beef, chicken, vegetable, salad, fruits and dessert. They were very good. The banquet went on smoothly by Master of Ceremonies, Mr.Bill Clark. He introduced the members who came from all over the US and overseas to all the attendance. I was one of them and they welcomed me with a big hand.

Next day, we went to the Devon Show in which all the breed entered. It is held in Ludwing's Corner every year. In the US, the shows usually start at 8 o'clock in the morning. Nancy and I left the hotel at 6 a.m. and had breakfast on the way at the restaurant and arrived at the place of the show shortly before eight. It was so large-scale that I was overwhelmed. The grounds were huge and there were a great number of dogs and people in there.
I have never seen such a spacious place for a dog show in Japan. Although it was raining from the morning and it was cold, I enjoyed the show very much. I was so attracted to the great Airedales that I didn't care about the weather at all. My eyes were glued to them. 97 Airedales entered in the show. 97 was a smaller number than in the average year. Ch Terrydale HK Moraine Spin got BOB at the Devon Show in this year.

The Airedales' show finished at noon and we returned to the hotel and saw The Obedience and The Sweepstakes in the backyard. Tens of Airedales demonstrated that they had been trained well. Fortunately it stopped raining in the afternoon and the sun began to shine. I was impressed that the owners and Airedales looked happy,vivid and proud. I liked the way they were as well. After The Obedience, The Sweepstakes by ATCA began at the same place. We can enter only puppies and young Airedales from 6 months to 18 months in it. The winners don't get points for a championship but they draw much of Airedale fanciers attention. And the winners get a ribbon or a rosette and some money. Redbeard Great Expectation which was in the from 15months tp 18months class got BOB this time.

The day of seeing Montogomery Show finally arrived. We left for the Temple University Ambler Campus Music Festival Grounds at 6 a.m. like yesterday and had breakfast on the way. We arrived there before 8 a.m. and I was amazed again at the large-scale grounds. Montogomery Show doesn't have all the breeds, but only the terriers. Such large place was full of cars and people who were terrier fanciers from all over the nation. Among the cars, there were more than one hundred of huge motor homes.

A battle against weather
It is said Montogomery Show is a battle against weather. Every year even in the early October, it is usually very cold. The grounds are covered with mud when it rains. However the day I went was it was a perfect day for watching the Show. It was sunny and warm from the morning, and there was no wind. We were very comfortable watching the Show.

Watching the show
First of all we sang a national anthem of the US and offered a silent prayer for the soul of the dead who were killed in the tragedy of New York. And The Show started with the Puppy Class and ended with the Open Class in the morning. I had watched the videotapes of Montogomery Show many times before and I thought I knew the grade of Airedales which entered. But I felt that the Airedales were much higher quality indeed and there were a much more variety of Airedale fanciers in the US than I had expected. Most of the Airedales were beautiful and looked happy. My impression is that the quality of male Airedales are especially high and their born structure are not less excellent than the ones in England, Airedales' hometown.

Lunch time
The morning schedule had past and it was time to have lunch. My Canadian friend, Margret reserved a table at a restaurant there for Nancy and me. At the same table were Margaret's other friends ; Trevor Evans from Ohio who is an expert breeder, Patricia K. Gregg from Calfornia, Diana Dozier who judged the Show of Airedale Millennium in UK last year. We enjoyed the lunch and the chat. Specially I was delighted that Diana remembered me being in the Championship Show as a handler.

We heared the news that the US started to attack Afghanistan when BOB competition was about to finish. Nancy's aunt Marie, Nancy and I went to Marie's house in the suburbs of Philadelphia and Marie treated me to dinner at the nearby restaurant. Although it was only a short stay, I never can forget what I experienced there.
The Montogomery Show is a festival truly for Terrier fanciers and it can be an excellent place for breeders to compete with each other. I hope to visit there again.