The event, long a fixture at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, will move to Lyndhurst, a riverside estate in Westchester County, in June 2021 to comply with pandemic restrictions.
Wrotten content by Andrew Das for NY Times
The nation’s top dogs are getting a weekend in the country.
The Westminster Kennel Club, the organizer of the popular dog show that has been a midwinter tradition in New York City for more than a century, announced Wednesday that its 2021 event would move from Madison Square Garden, its longtime home, to Lyndhurst, a riverside estate in Tarrytown, N.Y., north of the city, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The dates for the main judging competitions will be June 12 and 13, though the weekend will begin with the masters agility championship on Friday, June 11. The best-in-show judging will be broadcast live on Fox, which will take over the event from its cable partner for the Sunday night finale.
The change to a warm-weather, outdoor show was necessary, organizers said, to ensure the event could take place and still comply with the “ever-changing government restrictions” brought on by the health crisis. The Lyndhurst grounds have a long history as the host of dog shows, including dozens of events run by the Westchester Kennel Club.
“The wide-open outdoor space at this extraordinary venue allows us to hold a dog show safely while following current social distancing guidelines and public health regulations,” Westminster’s president, Charlton Reynders III, said in a statement.
Many of the specifics of next year’s show, from the setup of the judging areas to whether fans will be allowed to attend, remain unclear, given the continuing spread of the coronavirus and the fluidity of health recommendations and rules to fight it. In other leading shows held outdoors, competition areas are sometimes set up in large tents without sides. Read more from NY Times.
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