SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration (TWHNC) held a board of directors’ meeting on July 18, 2013.  The Celebration is preparing to celebrate its 75th Anniversary World Championship show on August 21-31, 2013.

The Celebration recently posted a change to its grounds fee on its web site and the board clarified this increase will come only if you don’t rent a stall at the 2013 show.  For those renting stalls, the grounds fee will not increase and will remain at $75.  For those horses not renting a stall, the grounds fee will be $190.

The Celebration recently received a press release whereby the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ & Exhibitors’ Association (TWHBEA) stated it had requested The Celebration consider allowing four padded performance classes to be held during The Celebration.  All seven directors of The Celebration confirmed no one from TWHBEA had contacted them with a request to move those classes to The Celebration.  The Celebration did receive a recommendation from the Performance Show Horse Association (PSHA) to consider affiliating those four classes at The Futurity with its SHOW HIO but The Celebration has received nothing from TWHBEA requesting this either.

Over the last several years, barn assignments have changed because of the lack of use of many of the stalls on the Celebration show grounds.  The board reaffirmed the policy that only the TWHNC can authorize the utilization of stalls and they cannot be resold outside the authority and consent of TWHNC.

PSHA, upon its formation asked The Celebration to appoint two board members to the initial board of PSHA.  The Celebration appointed Mike Inman, its Chief Executive Officer and licensed veterinarian Dr. John Bennett.  The board has since accepted the resignation of Dr. John Bennett and appointed Bruce MacDonald, an owner from Georgia and former Tennessee Walking Show Horse Organization board member, to fulfill that obligation.

The Celebration has begun the process of replacing retiring Celebration board chairman D.B. Nelson in September.  A complete report was reviewed detailing the most successful Spring Fun Show in recent years.  Purple Strategies will again be working with The Celebration during the months of August and September.  The Celebration, with the assistance and direction of Purple Strategies, had one of the most successful public relations campaigns in history at the 2012 Celebration.

The three and a half hour meeting also included a review of the corporate sponsor program.  The 75th Anniversary show will see a number of changes, additions and deletions to its corporate sponsor program.  The 2013 corporate sponsor party will be held at the home of Keith and Lorraine Rosbury.  The Celebration will next meet on August 15th.