Published: July 18, 2008 09:23 pm            

Blue Gray Shrine Horse Show stall rentals down from pre-show norms

BLUEFIELD, Va. — The Blue Gray Shrine Horse Show has been a tradition in the two Bluefields for 40 years, but the show’s chairman expressed concerns about the lack of stall-rentals for the 2008 show that is set to start next Thursday, July 24, and run through July 26.

“We have only rented out about 100 stalls so far,” Joe Vinciguerra said. Vinciguerra is chairman of the horse show committee and president of the Bluefield Shrine Club that has worked with the horse show since 1969 as one of the club’s major fund raisers that help support the Shrine’s on-going efforts to transport children to burn centers for treatment, and support young burn victims, crippled children as well as their families.

“We’re usually a lot further ahead at this point than we are right now,” Vinciguerra said. “I sent 279 programs out, but we have only rented out 100 stalls at this point.” Vinciguerra said that last year, the Shrine Club rented out 220 stalls to competitors, and that figure was well below the peak of 320 stalls rented out a few years ago.

“There are some local farms that haven’t contacted us yet, and we hope we’ll get up to 200 by next week,” Vinciguerra said. “We have been getting reservations from some of the farms from outside the area that always show here, but our numbers are down. I would venture to say its because of fuel prices and the economy, but we’re going to have a great show.”

Bev Wellman, executive director of the Mercer County Convention and Visitors Bureau said that gas prices may be having an impact on the pre-show registrations, but she said the concept of “time poverty,” has had an even bigger impact on the way people choose the events they plan to attend.

“Everyone is so busy that many people aren’t making plans until as late as they can,” Wellman said. “We are being told that more and more, people are making their plans within the week. We’ve seen it here that it’s rare when people are looking at something any longer than two weeks out.”

The Mercer County CVB provides grant funding to help the Horse Show. “We’re optimistic that we’ll see the numbers grow by the start of the show,” she said. “We could be down a little this year due to gas prices and the economy, but we have been seeing people make last minute decisions this season — enough so that we can confirm that it is a trend.”

Marc Meachum, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce said the Horse Show has always been an economic stimulus for the motels, hotels, restaurants and shopping areas of the region.

“With so many people coming in from out of town, we think it gives us an excellent opportunity to showcase our area,” Meachum said. “It’s a nice, mid-summer economic driver for the community. I hope the Shriners can have another successful show and I’m certain they will.”

Vinciguerra said that farms interested in showing, but have not registered yet can contact Gary Boyce at (304) 325-6155. “They’ll show up,” Vinciguerra said.

– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

        

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