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Take a step back to the future.....


The 2001 (78th) ARBA Convention was held in San Diego, California and is regarded by many as one of the most creative and best executed conventions ever. Kevin Whaley and Randy Shumaker teamed up with many others to build a cutting edge event and did. It included (then) several convention "firsts" or breakthroughs in modern ARBA Conventions:

1. First Convention to Accept Online Entries
2. First to host a high-end Best In Show produuction.
3. First to debut trade-show style badge-holders and lanyards.
4. First to offer a Best of Breed row.
5. First to have a fully interactive, cool, and animated website.
6. First to accept credit cards entries.
7. First to have a results book with placements at checkout time.


And if that were not enoough, the convention hosts had the troubling terrorist events of 9/11/2001 occur only 2 weeks before the show! Yet the show must go on and it did with 99%+ attendance.

For some, 2001, a rabbit odyssey seemed like a futuristic space event involving a dizzy rabbit and a comanding cavy. Now all we have are photos, great memories, and a legacy to build on.

 

THE LATE "MR ARBA", OREN REYNOLDS, CUTS
THE RIBBON TO START THE (78TH)
2001 ARBA CONVENTION AS PRESIDENT
HAYHOW WATCHES.

THE SPACE-RABBIT LOGO THEME WAS USED
THROUGHOUT THE SHOW.
THE BREED ID SIGNS BECAME COVETED
SOUVENIRS OF THE CONVENTION.

THE SPACIOUS SHOWROOM HAD POSSIBLY THE
BEST VENTILATION OF A MODERN SHOW DUE
TO THE GENTLE BUT CONSTANT OCEAN BREEZE
AND WIDELY SPACED AISLES.

THE "FIBBER" BEST IN SHOW PERPETUAL CUP MADE
ITS DEBUT AT THE SAN DIEGO SHOW.
E.R. "FIB" MCGEHEE HELPED KEVIN
WHALEY UNVEIL THE SILVER CUP.

 

 

 

What made the 2001 ARBA Convention so rewarding was that it brought together over 100 volunteers from across a very large state, working in harmony to produce a spectacular event! CRCS thanks all of our volunteers and attendees many of whom are no longer with us here on earth.

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