Open Best In Show Judging at ARBA Convention at Reno

Open Group 1 judge is Scott Rodriguez, Group 2 judge is Allen Mesick.

Group 3 judge is Cole Rupprecht and Group 4 judge is Chris Zemny.  

BOB English Angora.

BOB Lionhead.

BOB Rex, the Group 2 winner. 

BOB Netherland Dwarf, the Group 4 winner.

BOB Florida, also the Group 3 winner.

BOB New Zealand, Group 1 winner.  Best In Show judge is Jeremy Collins who awarded the convention Best In Show to this broken black New Zealand.

Best In Show winner and his $1,000 prize.

 

Youth Best In Show Judging at ARBA Convention at Reno

The chairs at the very front sections are reserved for the youth, the youth family and the sponsors.

The BOBs are divided into 4 groups.  The youth group judges are; Alan Rafferty, Louis Potter, Josh Humphries and Mike Avesing.   The two judges shown are Alan judging group 1 on the left and Louis judging group 2 on the right.

Judging group 3 is Josh Humphrie and group 4 is Mike Avesing.

An Angora on the screen, not sure which breed it is, possibly the Satin Angora.

Another wool breed.

Though the youth BOB winners should have a guaranteed seat, unfortunately two young winners could not find a seat, had to stay on the floor.  

The youth Best In Show judge is Misty Polasik of CA.  She is examining the group 4 winner the Netherland Dwarf.

Group 1 winner is the Blue Holicer that goes on to win the youth Best In Show.

The youth exhibitor winner is the young lady in red sweatshirt from Indiana.  On the stage are the master of ceremony Kendal Bledsoe, Best In Show judge Misty Polasik and Group 1 judge Alan Rafferty.

  

Youth show are for those who are under 19 years old.   A weird situation happened.  An adult in blue shirt walks onto the stage.

The adult squeezed himself into the photo op.

The adult takes control of the rabbit to get it to pose and hug the youth and stands center for photos.
Curios mind wants to know: Who? Why?   Heard from those who know: It's the Blue Holicer’s breeder from Canada.   

When the winner moves to the KW booth, it's supposed for the sponsors to have photo taken with the youth, the rabbit, the Best In Show and Group judges.  This adult squeezes in again.
Hello! This is a youth show. It doesn't matter who is the breeder, it is the owner/exhibitor who won the YOUTH show.    How bizarre and how inappropriate! 

 

Charlene Visits at ARBA Convention at Reno

Charlene Duncan comes to visit. This photo is worth taking up the entire blogpost.  
Charlene was a pioneer in Satin Angora.  Raising the Satin Angoras not long after the acceptence into the SOP.  She and daughter Laika showed the Satin Angora and the French Angora regularly during the 1990s and early 2000s.  Casey had raised the Satin Angora from Charlene's stock during the 1990s and gained a lot of insight of the breed that served her well in getting to be a top Satin Angora breeder today.    Charlene served as the vice president of NARBC and president of NCAG in the 1990s.  She was the first presenter of the broken Satin Angora; though did not get it passed, she started the journey.  

Betty has announced retirement from going to ARBA comventions, WCC is iffy.  The chance is that this might be the last time we see each other, we treasured every minute spent together.

 

Wandering Around the Showroom at ARBA Convention at Reno

We know that we are at the ARBA convention when we see this sign.

Carol, Casey and Betty are exploring the showroom.

See who we run into!  Jordan Miner.   Jordan has been working hard for the convention, one of Randy's top assistants.  He has been at the showroom since Tuesday, October 20 working tirelessly to help making everything in good order.  He used up his vacation time and took some unpaid days in order to be working for the convention.  Kudos to Jordan.

 

Cindy Wickizer Memorial at ARBA Comvention at Reno

Cindy Wickizer passed away in July 2026.   Cindy served as ARBA president for 4 terms and district 1 director for many years.   She was the first and only woman president of the ARBA. 

At 5 pm on Saturday, October 24, 2026, those who loved Cindy gathered at meeting room #19 to share memories.

The first speaker was Karen Lovett of WA.  Sitting next was Roger Hassenpfug of OR.

The next speaker was Roger Hassenpflug of Oregon.

Casey sat next to me at the memorial.

There were many great speakers sharing thier memories but it was a bit disappointing that there wasn't any photo or video of Cindy in the room.  Here is a photo of the article in Domestic Rabbits.

 

Cindy was a friend and a champion for the Angoras, photo from the current issue of Domestic Rabbits.

This is another photo in the Domestic Rabbits.  Cindy with Glen Carr and Cheryl Eng-Link. 

Betty was fortunate to have many occasions to interact with Cindy.  Here is a photo of Cindy awarding the 1992 Convention Best In Show trophy to Betty at the ARBA banquet at Columbus, OH.

Cindy is holding the English Angora BOB Chu's Ashton that she picked in 2003; Ashton went on to win the Group at the Best In Show competition.

This is the last photo Betty had with Cindy; it was at the 2017 ARBA convention at Indianapolis.

Cindy will be missed.

 

Angora Rows at ARBA Convention at Reno

The Angoras are in rows with the French Angora as the first row facing the NARBC booth.

The second row says French Angora but more than half of the coops are occupied by all the white English Angoras and a part of the English Angora colored senior bucks.

The third row are the English Angoras and the Satin Angoras.  Those we see in this photo are the English Angora colored senior bucks and colored senior does.

The fourth row are the Satin Angoras and the English Angoras.  Visible in this photo are the Satin Angoras.

The fifth row are the Giant Angoras.

The sixth also the last row of Angoras is the Giant Angora row.  However, the Giant Angoras only occupies less than half of the coops.   From the photo, you can see there are shavings on the floor.  Angora exhibitors will never use shavings as bedding material for their rabbits, it'd make a total mess.    If you go back to the previous photos, you don't see shavings on the floor.   One can be sure when there are shavings, there won't be any Angora in the coop.


If the readers wonder why there are different kinds of cardboards or papers lining the coops.   Angora breeders tend to be more concern about their rabbits' health and show condition.  To avoid the potential of catching disease from other rabbits, to reduce the shavings being kicked into the Angora coops from other breeds of rabbits, to prevent potential injuries from the rabbits "kissing" each other, ... etc.  Angora breeders like to use cardboards or other type of papers to be used as dividers.   Most other breeds do not seem to have such practice.   

 

Art Contests at the ARBA Convention at Reno

In addition to raising rabbits, many of the convention participants are talented artists.   The following photos show the display of the various art work submitted by contestants. 

 

 

Wool Skein Garment (WSG) Contest at the ARBA Conventon at Reno

At the NARBC booth, there are many beautiful Angora wool items on display.  Most of these are entered in the WSG contests.

These are some of the prizes for the WSG winners and WSG sweepstakes winners.

The convention WSG contest Best In Show winner is the handspun handknit shawl made by Linda Hibbert of CO.