The breed show had a very high level of competition this year, with many beautiful animals. The ribbons were very well distributed among AGS members, with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons going to new AGS members and old-timers alike.

The effort and energy of AGS volunteers was phenomenal. Show Co-coordinator Jenn Bell must have broken the speed of light barrier, because I am quite sure I saw her in more than one place at the same time, doing Pet Class health checks, writing out Treasure Hunt questions, answering everyone else's questions, supervising the Gerbil Olympics, and moving furniture to accommodate our buffet dinner. And that's just what I saw! Judi Poirier was busy every moment from 5 PM Friday until early Sunday morning, acting as On-site Show Secretary, supervising kids, counting banquet tickets, and bookkeeping, all while keeping track of her adorable baby Chinchillas who were very much handled and kissed by adoring fans. Melissa Vogelsang of New Haven CT returned for her second show and was busy every minute helping with lunches, logistics and logical next steps. Chris Vrba put out a wonderful Children's activity area with a coloring contest so popular we finally had to chase kids away from the table so we could begin the next event!

AGS family members and friends played a big role at this show, and we are so grateful for their help. Steve Siasi (Donna's brother) and Andy Pergament (Alex's mom) manned a front desk whose activity rivaled Grand Central Station. Out in the lobby, my husband Steve Hanna was traffic cop, lunch-fetcher, press representative, and Info Desk. Local teacher Anita Petrocelli decorated our show hall with beautiful gerbil art work from local grade K and 1 children, and made more than a few trips to
stores for every manner of supplies. Alex's Dad, Russel Pergament, provided us with great publicity in his newspaper Boston NOW and gave me advice and support all through the early show siting process.

Our youth stepped up to the plate in a big way this year. Ruth Hanna was promoted to "Pet Class Show Secretary" and worked side by side with Emily Poirier to handle the crush of people who arrived for the Pet Class between 11 and noon. In the show hall, super sellers Katie Anastasi and Caroline Hanna handled merchandise at the big tables of ABC and SRG supplies, and later helped Emily and Ruth run the Gerbil Olympics events (including tactfully handling some overly competitive visiting parents, from what we hear!)

We benefited from many wonderful raffle and Silent Auction contributions and by the generous support of members and friends purchasing raffle tickets and bidding on items.

I don't even know how to begin to itemize all the contributions made by Board members/judges/planners extraordinaire Ruth Divine, Amy Paben and Donna Anastasi. For now I'll just say "Wow! Thanks!"

Soon, we'll have photos from Kylee and Steve S. to share, official results from our hard-working Show Secretary Jo Kelley (who spent hours preparing and tracking registrations and payments beforehand!), thank you's to many other folks, and other stories to share. I am sure I have forgotten some thanks and some facts, for which I apologize - this won't be my final report! But at least it's a little news for those who wonder how it all went!

Libby