Toronto English Angoras

The rabbit show takes place in the Ring of Excellence Once a year, the country comes to the city. That's the tagline that I remember for the Toronto Royal Agricultural Winter Fair as it was advertised when I was a kid. RAWF is a large indoor fair with tons of crowds attending, international horse competitions, all sorts of agricultural displays, vendors, farm animals, as well as food and animal competitions.  Scope of this event, all held indoors at the gorgeous historical CNE Coliseum building, built in 1921 The Royal rabbit competition runs under the Dominion Rabbit and Cavy club rules, a Canadian rabbit breeders association older than ARBA. While the rabbit show itself might not be the biggest one in Ontario based on the number of entries, it is quite the event to experience given the grand venue and never ending crowds of onlookers.  Helen being a wonderful demo bunny Helen and her wool after the shave This time I only brought 3 angoras. Two entered in the show and one to shave

One of the perks of showing at Komoka, professional photo for all competitors. This year's theme was year of the rabbit.  Komoka is the unofficial season ender show for ARBA competitions in Ontario. It is always a big and well ran show. This year as always, there were 3 open shows plus multiple breed specialties. There were 6 judges booked for this event: Danielle and Justin Lowe from IN, Chuck Pelham and  Penny Jackson from MI,  Tom Schweikart from PA, and Jodi Hartman from NY. I was very excited at the opportunity to be able to show under some new to me judges. When the show entries closed, 600 rabbits were entered and the organizers scrambled to find 2 more judges at the last minute to help the show run in a timely manner. Ontario's John Richter and Mark Stewartson graciously stepped up.  The showroom towards the end of the day after some people had already left This show ended up being utterly insane for me, mostly due to the number of animals and different breeds I brought

Wrapping up the best in show judging in the dark Despite of being only a couple weeks before convention, this turned out to be a big show. Over 400 rabbits competed, four judges judged, and we were there till dark.  The English Angoras had a very nice showing. We had a few people interested in the breed and showing who came out to watch and help out. We had a ton of fun. Despite of it being a busy day, all of the judges were very generous with their explanations for what they were seeing and answered our questions. I'm so happy to see that we are growing a nice little community of friendly and kind hearted exhibitors in this breed.  Show A English all lined up For English Angoras, I brought two colored senior girls, Electric Zero Hour (Black) and her sister Electric Zanzibar (Lilac). Both sisters haven't shown since the Rockton show where they were just little babies. Good ol' Mr. Bermah Maurice joined us (in his 4th coat at this point) to help fill classes. We had a total

  Big fair shows are so much fun! Lots of people to talk to, lots of action on the rabbit show tables to watch, and if you want to step away, there's tons of fair action happening only steps away. Horse shows, sheep show, chickens, ducks, cattle, alpacas, and let's not forget fair food.  Our English Angoras stayed at home this time and our Satin Angoras came out to shine (haaa haa). Yes, those are broken English you see being judged in the picture above. Unlike ARBA, the Dominion club recognizes them as a showable variety.  We had a total of 9 Satin Angoras shown by 3 exhibitors. Under judge John Richter, our Chinchilla girl Electric Bonanza took Best of Breed while our Chocolate Agouti girl Electric Arakis took Reserve of Breed. Bonanza's brother, Electric Biscuit took the best buck category in both shows but the girls had him beat for the top honours. In Dominion shows, the 1st and 2nd breed placements are awarded based on merit only regardless of gender. In our 2nd show

  Lots of fair food right next to us What a day! Another fun fair show with beautiful sunny weather. We brought back our main team of whites: BerMah Maurice, Electric Iroc, Electric Uncle Buck, and his sister Electric Unity. We also brought a couple of up and coming babies. Mary was back with her team of whites: BerMah MyMy, Fancy Pricilla, BerMah Misty, and Fancy Elvis.  In our first show under judge John Richter, Electric Unity finally beat her aunt BerMah MyMy and won Best of Variety as well as Best of Breed. Her brother  Electric Uncle Buck beat all the other boys and took Opposite Sex of Variety and Breed. When you're vertically challenged and need to get your hands in the clouds In our second show under judge Mark Stewartson, Electric Unity once again beat her aunt but this time took 2nd place to her brother who was awarded Best of Variety and Breed! However the best news came at the end of the day. Electric Uncle Buck took home the Best In Show award! Our first ever Best In

The rabbit show tent under the hazy wild fires sky  This show was dedicated to remembering Dave Grandy who sadly passed away last month. A long time member of the rabbit community as well as the person responsible for organizing the rabbit show at the Brooklin fair.   Our colored juniors stayed home this time while our white team was out in full force. This time around every one was showing in the Sr classes and there were no juniors at the show.  Our team of whites The show getting started For boys we brought Electric Iroc, BerMah Maurice, and Electric Uncle Buck. For girls we brought Electric Unity and our "old" lady Electric Melody. Having just finished raising and fostering 13 babies she was very much not in competitive form but she came out to get officially registered. The other person showing with us was Mary (Meg's Fancy Bunnies). She brought two boys, BerMah Misty and Fancy Elvis, and two girls: BerMah MyMy and Fancy Pricilla. Once again this was a close competit