The Celebration Board of Directors, in their November board meeting, adopted guidelines for retirement ceremonies held on the Celebration grounds.

Virgil Johnson, chairman of the Celebration's Board of Directors commented, "Many people wish to retire a horse at the conclusion of a great career, and the Celebration respects these wishes and strives to accommodate them. Retirement ceremonies are extremely important to the Celebration and to fans of the Celebration, but often these ceremonies, although beautiful, are too long and drawn out."

With these reasons in mind, the board adopted Guideline #37, which follows:

•Time allotted for a retirement ceremony will be 15 minutes.

•An outline of the retirement ceremony, including script, special lighting and effects, vocalists, music, video, equipment, etc., must be submitted and approved by the Celebration prior to the ceremony.

•Any copy to be read from center ring during the retirement ceremony will be done so only by the official announcer of the Celebration.

Owners and/or exhibitors wishing to retire a horse at the Celebration, other than the previous year's Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Champion, must receive special approval from the Celebration Board of Directors. A letter outlining the horse's achievements must be submitted with the request.