Twin Tier Poultry Club 38th Annual Show . . . We Hope
By Keith Orfanides

Normally when writing a show article for Poultry Press I would be trying to come up with a creative way to tell you how great our show is going to be this year. And nothing would make me happier than not talking about the pandemic and Covid-19. But right now, that’s our reality and so the question becomes, how will we hold a poultry show amid all of this? ONLY WITH EVERYONE’S COOPERATION!
The show is scheduled for September 12 and 13, 2020 at our home, the Steuben County Fairgrounds in Bath NY. Those of you who have attended our shows know that basically we have two parts to our setup. 1) A large outside, spread out tailgate type exhibitor sale of birds and other farm related items and 2) The normal inside exhibition of a typical poultry show. Under the various stages of New York States phased reopening we see both as being allowed under the law.

 

The outside sales setup resembles any typical farmers market seen in our local area. These have been open in New York State and there have been no reported issues related to them. Here in Steuben County I can think of one fairly large tailgate-like farmers sale that is now running every Thursday without incident. As I am sure you have heard thousands of times now – MASKS ARE REQUIRED AND SOCIAL DISTANCING WHENEVER POSSIBLE.

 

The inside exhibition is where more cooperation will be needed but WE CAN DO THIS. Phase 4 of New York’s reopening allows for low risk arts and entertainment. That’s us! We will have guidelines to follow that will be posted at the show. MASKS WILL BE A MUST! For some of you, I know this is normal without a pandemic due to the dust involved with our hobby. For this show we will be joining you. If you happen to forget your mask, we will provide one for you.

 

We do have one unfortunate consequence of the pandemic that is simply out of our control. Visitors from states deemed to have a high infection rate are subject to quarantine if they are visiting and staying in New York. As of this writing we have no way of knowing what states will be on this list at the time of the show. A state could be on the list now but off the list by September. So, our promise to you is this. If you send an entry for our show but at the time of the show your state is on the restricted list causing you not to be able to attend, we will refund your entry. To monitor if your state is affected by New York’s travel restriction please check the following website - https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-travel-advisory.
Okay, enough Covid for a second. Some show details. Our judges are Brian Knox, Paul Gilroy and Dan Castle. We have District Meets for Call Breeders and Nat. Sebastopol. State Meets for IWBA, American Silkie, RI Red, Wyandotte Breeders and Old English Game Bantam. A Special meet for the Cochin club. And meets for the APA and ABA. Our show book will be our normal highly loaded, lots of awards offering. For details on the show see our website www.twintierpoultryclub.org. You can get a show book from Bob Whitney by writing to him at rodewhit@gmail.com or calling 607-776-2500.
Every indication is that the Fall show schedule will be light as more and more shows cancel. Do you have birds for sale and where do you plan to sell them? Personally, our backyard is loaded up with excess birds we had hoped to sell. Our show may be one of the few in person opportunities to do this. Consider reserving your outside sales spot as part of your entry.

 

WITH ALL OF YOUR HELP AND COOPERATION we have an opportunity to have a great event. It will be a little different. Bob Whitney might not be hugging as many people as he normally does but the opportunity for fellowship in the fancy will still be there. Follow our Facebook page and website closely for updated details as things change, hopefully for the better. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible. Stay safe and stay healthy!