American Royal Complex (from www.americanroyal.com)
At long last, the AOBA Nationals will be returning to the West …sort of. To be more precise, the 2011 show will be at the American Royal in Kansas City, Missouri which is actually the Midwest. When looked on at a map, it falls just a little to the east if you were to draw a north-south line cutting the U.S. in half.
But who’s quibbling?
For Coloradoans such as myself, the location is handclapping, footstomping convenient. One long but easy day of driving or a short 2 hour direct flight into Kansas City International Airport. Mopaca will hold its Invitational Show at the American Royal for the second time in 2010. The venue is old in an equally (ahem) historic part of town but its website states plans to expand and renovate. It’s only five minutes from downtown and about 30 minutes from the airport. It certainly doesn’t have the glamor or pristine newness that the Sandy, UT Expo center has but then I’m betting it won’t have the same cost either. Combined with previous plans announced to separate out the AOBA annual conference from the show and thereby decrease attendance costs significantly, the 2011 Nationals could see a serious uptick in attendance.
Hooray!
This was so exciting when I first heard it. We’ve never gone to Nationals because it was too far away AND we didn’t have the high caliber stock required to compete until this last year when our breeding program really kicked into high gear. We will be going in 2011 as will many more folks & luckily, the American Royal is a venue that can handle the volume…with KC being in the center of the U.S. I truly think more people will make the trek from the north, south, east and west!