2006 Vizsla Club of Illinois Double Bubble - Busch Farm, Winnebago, IL

All I can say is what a weekend! First off I would like to thank everyone one who supported this event from the raffle donors (both business and individual), to all of my volunteers, to Jim & Linda Busch for the perfect location, to all of the members and non-members who came out to support this event. I can assure you that a good time was had by all in spite of the hot temperature, high humidity and relentless sun.

The weekend officially started on Friday when a group of us met up at Busch farm for set-up and last minute clean up. I could not have gotten this done so quickly and easily without the crew of help I had. Jon Peck, Greg Hedien, Jon Leid, Mark Johnson, RaeAnn Jones, Jim Gingrich, Luke Piper, Mark Spurgeon, Dan Cieslak, Jim Busch, Linda Busch, Linda Busch’s parents (hope that I did not forget anyone!). This crew worked hard to get things ready for the weekend—this included dredging the creek with the tractor (and getting that stuck!) for the Rubber Ducky Race. I wish I had my video camera!

Saturday started off bright and early. I had Greg Wegler and Jon Peck up in the saddle judging the mock Hunt Test. It was a lot of fun to see new faces get their dogs started in the field. We ran about 20 dogs and all of them did quite well, many would have passed if this would have been a real test. After we wrapped the HT up, we got the grill started for the yummy steak dinner. Many thanks to Linda Busch and her mom for the delicious side dishes and deserts. A big thank you to the other people who brought a dish to pass too. The general membership meeting followed the dinner.

Sunday dawned with another hot and sunny day. At least we were blessed with no rain :) We had a lot of fun activities for both young and old kids! Rick Mitchell and his fantastic crew organized and ran the Locate and Point and the hot dog lunch. They did a great job.

In case you didn’t hear, ‘Ol Blue won the pigeon race!The kids enjoyed hopping on the bird wagon and watching the homing pigeons being released. The winner flew fast and landed on the platform before Jim and the kids were back! Thanks to Jim Busch and Dan Cieslak for taking care of the bets and race. As always, the kids bird planting contest was well attended. We had our quail expert Rodney Albin teach the kids how to put a quail to “sleep”. Hailey Spurgeon won the big trophy. The quail “slept” for close over an hour. Great job kids!

The wing ‘n string contest had about 14 entries. Wehad pups as young as 5 weeks and as old as 5 months. It is fun to see these little guys strut their stuff. I do have to give my new pup Fire a shameless brag in that he tied for first place with Nemo (owned by Andrew Johnson)! Rezi (owned by Brent Stanley) came in second and Honey (owned by Terry Rohlfing) came in 3rd. Mark Spurgeon did a great job with the puppies.

The 2007 Calendar Contest table was a hopping place to be! There were lots of outstanding photos to choose from and it was hard to pick just 4! I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see next years calendar! Thanks to Lisa & Tim Starbuck and their crew for setting this up and running it expertly. I know that they had several people helping out, but I do not remember exactly who… sorry!

After things wound down, we still had the clean-up to do. It went faster then I expected and to everyone who stayed to help… a super big thanks! Those who helped out were Jon Peck, Rob Tomczak, Marty Hull, Jon Leid, Valerie (sorry I forgot your last name!), Luke Piper, Lisa Starbuck, Cathy Gallagher.

If I forgot your name it is because my brain is still fried and I apologize!

I can’t wait until next year and I hope to see you at the Double Bubble!

- submitted by jodi cieslak

 

2006 Double Bubble Sponsors

GunDogSupply.com
Dogs Unlimited
Tri-Tronics
Better Dog Care
Michael Steddum
Jim & Linda Busch
Michel Berner
Jodi & Dan Cieslak
Pam & Mark Spurgeon
Rick Mitchell