Thank you for jumping in and getting this off the ground for us! 🥳

Personally I don’t think it’s that important unless it’s an unusual color for a breed, or the color (including many “Breyer colors”) can look ambiguous due to the execution of the paint job or how it shows up in a photo. (Not everyone has the skill or resources to properly balance a photo in angle, lighting, color, etc. without using a lot of editing, and most shows these days do not want any more than minimal edits. So, a color description could be helpful to properly present a model for someone who is still skill building for example.)

Might adding a color tag or description be helpful as a matter of accessibility for folks who may have challenges with vision? To my awareness there are some conditions that could impact how well someone can visually distinguish some things and not others, for example. Unless a show site has a sophisticated tool for image captions there may be some things that need to be done as part of the text description in order to make viewing the images more friendly.

Ah, I see I replied to the wrong thread for this - my apologies! 😅

I don’t mind prices being a bit higher, as long as the classlist is decently sized. For a smaller intimate show, particularly if at someone’s home or very cozy venue (think like less than 15 people attending including show staff) I might be curious if the price was high (what factors led to this? Awards, judges, etc?) But certainly, as a host myself, I’m familiar enough with the difficulties that I am more favorable towards costs than people who may not be familiar with what goes into hosting.

Travel is definitely important too, most shows I’ve attended in the last few years have been within reasonable distance to either go home in the evening or stay with a relative. The catch for me is, usually if a show is worth driving far enough to stay over, and especially if it’s a two day show; I need to take a minimum of a half-day off work, up to 2 full days, and that can be difficult to plan far enough ahead for. (This is why I’ve never attended the Syracuse NY-area Pumpkins & Ponies, despite being a well-renowned show in my region and it offering desirable divisions for me.)

I would say that a class list is really the largest driver for me in terms of interest (as long as a show is within my typical travel range including an overnight stay). I’m not going to push myself too hard for a standard class list that I’ve been to many times over the years and most likely, will show up in one of the more local options anyway. Personally what excites me the most lately include:

• OFP collectibility based shows that are well split out and include a wide variety of levels (from common to rare and different brands isolated, etc.)
• OFP Mini shows that either have a deeper classlist/further split to be ok with double judging, or have separate collectibility that doesn’t just feel tacked on. But, I’d also appreciate a Mini Breed based show if it was more extensive than what we usually see or offered additional split categories by brand, scale etc.
• Any show offering OFP that presents new or unusual ways of organizing classes (Color-based independent of collectibility, double-judged but Collectibility is the primary category instead of secondary, splitting Breyers up by decade of mold release to encourage “not old but not new” molds/models to have an opportunity, schooling shows [instructing by doing with a small group], anything innovative!) I don’t dislike showing artisan or breakables but I have fewer of those categories in my collection, so I really only enter those if I’m traveling for a show with OFP as my main focus, I’m judging something, or the show is hyper-local to me (within an hour’s drive).

Pardon the old photo. This little H-R was one of my first models, which earned the “stay on the shelf” designation and not to play with. My parents bought her for me at a little gift shop in the village my dad’s family had a beach house in, which no longer exists (the shop). I can’t recall if this one was first, or a chestnut H-R walking adult on a base from the modern miniatures, but they both pre-date my knowledge of/involvement with Breyers by a few years.

What is the cutoff for “vintage” era here? I think my oldest in my collection are probably early 00’s. :)

So far, I have not done any “destination shows” outside of BFL/NAN, unless you count regional championships (we have in the past had a number of folks from out of region attend, but the show format has also varied and in most recent editions, has been heavily weighted to champ classes for already qualified horses). I would consider this type of show to be defined by:

• Either a very large, all encompassing show offering lots of divisions (i.e. NAN, BFL, EQ) or one that is large because it offers a deep dive into a certain category (All breakables, All performance, etc. - Jennifer Show counts here)
• The show is held at an appropriately sized venue that either offers onsite stay or a very close by host hotel (bonus points if it’s close enough to an airport that folks flying in have an easy time navigating there)
• At least a few of the judges are recruited from out of region and are hand selected as experts in their topic
• Awards/stakes of the show feel higher caliber whether through how fancy they are or they may be of particular interest to entrants (such as Anise resin, partnerships with artists or brands, etc.)
• Whether through class list format or other show activities/structure, the event strives to be innovative enough to draw wide attention
• There may be a secondary event paired along with the show, such a swap meet or workshop which offers participants added value
• Show holder(s) make a targeted effort to market their event towards other regions and do so far enough in advance
• Ideally, for those traveling with family or taking a road trip to get there, I’d expect a decent amount of non-hobby amusement in the vicinity

I’m not really in a position to do a lot of travel outside of my region or the directly adjacent areas, at least not in terms of having the flexibility of planning for a big trip, for the time being. But I do enjoy the idea of destination shows and with only a few major hobby events during the year, adding a few more opportunities for folks with the means and time to travel and see friends is always great!