'93 ZNA Potomac Show . . .

[KoiCop]

photos and the article, courtesy of KoiUSA magazine, Volume 18, Issue 4, Jan/Feb 1994, pp. 22/23. We've come a long way, Baby.

SECOND ANNUAL ZNA POTOMAC SHOW
By Andy Bass
Photos by Andy Bass

Labor Day weekend, 1993 was the selling for the second annual show of the ZN A Potomac Koi Club. The event was again held at Lilypons Water Gardens, just outside of Frederick, MD. The weather was a vast improvement over last year, and the weekend could not have been more perfect.

The club was fortunate to have as our chief judges for the show two of the most knowledgeable koi people in the U.S. - Bob and Joan Fin­negan. Our shadow judges ~ Bob Estrella, Larry Chris­tiansen, and Grant Patton, were also of the highest qual­ity. We were very fortunate to witness these three indi­viduals become fully certified ZNA judges as a result of their efforts at the show. This was the last show neces­sary for all to satisfy their re­quirements, and it was apparently the first time that this many judges have been certi­fied at a single show here in the U.S.

Needless to say, with all this experience on hand, it was a very educational expe­rience for those present. If you were fortunate enough to hear the judge's commentary, it was quite interesting.

There were a total of 106 fish entered this year by eight club members, and the com­petition was close in many categories. This year we changed to a Japanese style of judging where every­body's fish are mixed togeth­er based on the size and vari­ety, and we also added two size categories for the judg­ing - up to 7" and over 22". This method of showing worked out well since all the fish were screened for health problems, and there was much less handling of the fish which we all know trans­lates to happier koi.

On Saturday evening the club held a banquet and awards ceremony at the Hampton Inn in Frederick.

The Grand Champion was a very impressive kohaku owned by Art and Nicole Lembke. The AKCA Award went to a fish owned by Doris and Chuck Poppe - a gin rin showa.

The club also had the op­portunity to view a short vid­eotape after the banquet that featured many of the winners from that day. What made it special was the fact that our judges offered their com­ments on the fish as we viewed them. This was a very interesting addition to our evening, and something we are going to try to expand on next year.

Sunday was a day for re­laxing and talking with the public. We also held a pair of very successful fish auctions on Saturday and Sunday to help defray the expenses, and I would personally like to thank Larry Christiansen and Bob Finnegan for their auc­tioneer expertise. Thanks also again this year to our show chairpersons Norman and Betty Bass, to Pat Chris­tiansen for all her help keep­ing the judging on track, and to all the club members who put a lot of time and effort into making this event even more successful than our first show.