This year’s AMCA National Specialty Show was held in Topeka, KS at the Capitol Plaza Hotel Topeka. Chairperson Jan Croft ran the events smoothly. It was well entered (about 280 dogs) and international attendees were there from Australia, Canada, England, Israel, Mexico, South Africa, South America, and Spain (please forgive me if I missed any). You can find the show results here. The dogs were exquisite, and as you’ll see from the images, there were many happy faces!
AMAL had no affiliates with adopters who were able to participate in our Rescue Showcase this year—we are hoping for participation at next year’s event! We provided posters that reflected many rescue dog successes from some of our affiliates for over the year. AMAL highlighted Illinois Alaskan Malamute Rescue (IAMRA) as they proudly celebrated their 900th rescue adoption this year as a male named Max found a forever home. Sharon Huston was the creative designer and implementor behind the posters. Thanks go out to her for such great results!
AMAL made sales from the AMAL table and the AMCA Silent Auction. We had a corner spot in the ballroom show ring location with several tables. Tanja Gube, Andrea Allen, Paul Ganci, and Sharon Nichols “manned” the booth over the course of the week. Best sales items included a tack box and dog sled (from silent auction); assorted framed photos and paintings of wolves and malamutes; spray bottles; t-shirts; sweatshirts; ornaments; and breed information books. AMAL appreciates all the generous item donations (and candy for the volunteers) received for this annual fundraiser! Note: An estate donated a box of books, AMCA annuals. and collector comic books to AMAL, but it disappeared the first night. It was so sad to have this happen… The Silent Auction was new this year – a row of tables was setup on the far wall of the show area and items were listed for silent bidding on a per day of for up to the entire duration of the show. The AMCA Banquet capped the week on Friday.
The AMCA will hold its 2020 National Specialty Show at Linn County Fair and Expo Center, in Albany, Oregon October 18-24th. Find information here. Sharon Weston is the Show Chairperson. Hope to see you there!
Sharon Nichols
2019 Rescue Showcase Chairperson
