April, 2011

 

Two Big Events in April!

Spring Auction at our monthly Meeting. See Upcoming Events below for more info.

California Guppy Group Show. Look to the right  for more info,  >        and down below for the complete schedule. 

IFGA Judging Seminar

There will be an IFGA judging seminar, open to all who are interested in learning to judge show guppies, at the California Guppy Show.

Date: April 16, Saturday

Time: Between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. 

Location: Check with the registration desk in room 104 of the Botanical Building on Casa del Prado in Balboa Park for the exact location.

Contents

  • Upcoming Events.
  • Schedule of the 2011 California Guppy Group Show in Balboa Park

 

 

 

 Editor's Message

I am writing this on Thursday, April 7th. One week from today the setup for the California Guppy Group Show in Balboa Park begins. That show is one of the five International Fancy Guppy Association (IFGA) events at which exhibitors can achieve points towards 2011 awards by the IFGA, as well as show awards from the local sponsor. The local sponsors for this show are the San Diego Guppy Association, the San Fernando Guppy Association, the Pan Pacific Guppy Association, and the San Diego Tropical Fish Society.

This show kicks off the season. Since the end of October IFGA members have been busy breeding and raising the fish they will be showing in the five exhibits across the country between now and the end of October 2011. We expect about 400 entries from all over the U.S. 

This morning Ben Ivy, who is Co-Chair of the event with me, and I took a final look at the exhibit room, which is room number 104 in the Botanical Building on Casa del Prado in Balboa Park. This room is directly across the patio from room 101, which is where the San Diego Tropical Fish Society holds its monthly meetings. 

Much of the work for this show has been going on for over a year, but today Ben and I made some final measurements, planned exact positioning and numbers of tables, location of barrels of water, position of computer and registration tables, and other details.

However volunteers are still needed. There is a schedule after Upcoming Events, below. If you would like to volunteer to help you will see the times volunteers are needed flagged in red. For assignment to one of these groups, phone me at (619) 955-9754. If you would just like to visit the show you will see the times it is open for visitors on the same schedule.

Charles Pratt

Upcoming Events at SDTFS
 

April 10, 2011 - Annual Spring Auction. For sellers it opens at 5:00 p.m., and the Auction itself will start at 6:00 p.m. It will be in our normal meeting room, which is room 101 in the Floral Building in Balboa Park. For directions check the home page of this web site. You must be an SDTFS member to either buy or sell, but you can join at the Auction. Pond plants are not allowed in the auction. For more Auction information click here.

April 16 and 17, 2011 - California Guppy Group IFGA Show in room 104 of the Botanical Building in Balboa Park. This is the only West Coast International Fancy Guppy Association approved show in 2011. Helpers will be needed starting on Friday the 15th.  Email prattc@adminoff.com  or phone Charles Pratt at (619) 267-2236 for more information.

April 30, 2011 Saturday SDTFS party in Karen Kees' garden, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., 12819 Selma Court, Poway 92064. This date was chosen as Karen's Garden is expected to be in full bloom.

May 08, 2011 -  Mother's Day and Membership Meeting. We are honored to have Dr. Tim Hovanec as our May speaker. When Dr. Tim spoke to us last year we found him to be a wonderfully accomplished expert on water chemistry and all things fishy. During the question and answer part of his talk he solved a water chemistry problem for me that had stumped me for a couple of years. It will be great to hear him again.

May 21, 2011 - Field Trip, Tijuana Estuary, Chair Bill Cline. Phone Bill at (619) 423-0162.

June 12, 2011- Stump the Experts, Panel of local Experts will answer your questions. Sam Garcia from Aquatic Warehouse, and Jim Clark from Fish Haven will be on the panel.

July 10, 2011 - Program TBA

August 14, 2011- Program TBA

September 11, 2011 - Program TBA

October 9, 2011 - Program TBA

November 4, 5, 6, 2011 - Daylight Saving Time Ends. Annual Show in Balboa Park.

November 13, 2011 - Fall Auction

December 11, 2011 - Potluck, Room 101 (Our normal meeting room) If attending alone bring one hot item, if two people, bring one hot and one cold. Awards for the November Auction will be given. Elections for officers for 2011 will be held. The dinner will begin at 6:00 p.m. There will be no auction this month

Schedule of the 2011 California Guppy Group Show in Balboa Park 

The location is room 104 of the Botanical Building on Casa del Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego

Thursday the 14th

5:00 p. m. Stands and Bowls will be brought in on trucks by Ben Ivy and Charles Pratt

Group 1 Volunteers needed  for unloading  and setup.

Friday the 15th

10:00 a.m. Setup will continue.  Bowls for the fish being showed will be set up. 

 Group 2 Volunteers needed  by 10:30  

12:00 noon Desks, Computer, printer etc will be set up and we will begin entering show fish. 

4:00 p. m. Start benching shipped in fish. This means opening boxes and the plastic bags of fish, putting them in bowls and placing the bowls in the appropriate places on the benches.  

6:00 p.m. Bill Cline arrives with additional shipped in fish.  

8:00 p.m. Try to finish up for the day.  

Saturday the 16th

8:00 a.m. Start benching  remaining shipped in fish and carry in fish.

Group 3 Volunteers needed by  9:00 a.m. for benching fish.

9:00 AM Judging Seminar in the Library room of the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, across the Prado walkway from the show room. It will be led by Jim Alderson.

11:00 a.m. Show Room open to visitors  

2:30 p.m. Show room closed to visitors. Cut off entries and start Audit  

3:00 p.m. Judging Begins. Show room closed to all except Judges, Assistant Judges and Observers. Judging is done by teams. Each team will have one or two Judges, one or more Assistant Judges and one or more observers. All three of these positions are defined by IFGA Judging regulations.  An observer is a member of a team to which he or she has been assigned, and observes what the Judges are doing, helping by taking completed judging sheets to the computer operator and in other ways as requested. The observer may ask questions of the judges, and it is the pathway to deciding if you would like to become a judge. Judges, Assistant Judges and Observers all must sign in on the Judges sheet at the registration desk in advance of the judging, so they can be assigned to teams.  

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Reception in show room. All volunteers , exhibitors and SDTFS members invited. Local volunteers and SDTFS members please sign in for the reception at the  April SDTFS monthly meeting if you wish to attend.

Group 4 Volunteers needed to help with the food at 6:00 p.m.  

Sunday the 17th

9:00 a.m. Showroom open to public until 11:00 a.m. Ramon will help watch the door.

Group 5 Volunteers needed at 9:00 a.m. to help pull and bag the auction fish.  

11:00 a.m. Auction begins in the Show Room. Auction is open to all attendees.  

1:00 p.m. Start Breakdown.

Group 6 volunteers needed to pull and bag fish to be shipped to exhibitors, clean, dry and repack empty bowls, to break down and load stands and boxes of bowls into trucks.

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