The January Des Moines show was held in the 'regular' smaller looking building, where it usually is. It always feels a little cramped but I think that it is the lower ceilings. There excitement in the air when 'everyone' was talking about the upcoming February Des Moines show that was to be held in the 'Big' building, right next door, at the fairgrounds. It was very expensive, $70 for a 2 day show for reserved grooming with electric, so we hoped that it would be worth it.
IT WASN'T...
IT WASN'T...
Des Moines Show Site - February - Yep, it sucked. No cross-aisles in grooming area. If you were assigned a spot in the middle of
the row, you had to take your dogs at least 50 or 60 feet to the end then down
that side aisle, then back another 30 feet or so to the entrance to the side of
the building where the rings were located.
Free grooming around sides, exit doors blocked for the most part. Where were the Fire Marshalls when you needed
them? Heck, where were the club
members. If there had been an emergency requiring an evacuation of the building, people and dogs would have been trampled at the doors. We were supposed to have some
sort of tag for our electric cord to prove that we paid for it. We must have tried 5 or 6 times, and were
never able to get one. They made a boat
load of money on reserved grooming, and yes, the building was more expensive
than the other building, but NO MATS!
Polished concrete, people falling in the ring and out, what a dangerous mess. Finally, by midday Saturday, they put down carpeted runners on the slick ramps exiting the grooming room to outside. They never did anything for the ramps going down from the grooming room to the rings. It seemed like they were just waiting for someone else to get hurt before doing anything.
From our arrival on Friday afternoon, the
consensus among handlers seemed to be that they would much rather have been in
the other building. This 'BIG" building had very high ceilings, lots of natural light coming in up high, but it definitely seemed to have less grooming space. If it had more, it definitely was not laid out, or as easy to maneuver, as the 'small' building. The rings were a bit larger, but they either need to limit the entries if the show is held in that building again, or go back to the small building.
NOTE TO OTHER DES
MOINES CLUBS THINKING ABOUT MOVING TO THE BIG BUILDING AT THE FAIRGROUNDS>>>>PLEASE DON’T.
