On The Grandest Stage Of All

This year, a piece of exhibition history was made at the World Show in Cesena, Italy, which posted a serious claim to be the greatest bird show of all time. The experienced canary judge ERNESTO GRACIA was privileged to be part of it, and here presents the first of three articles that reflect on the Cesena show, the European exhibition fancy, and Britain’s part in it.

CANARIES

WHEN the news broke that the total bird entry at this year’s World Show in Cesena had exceeded the 32,000 mark, expectations ran wild.

Just think of putting together staging and cages for such an inordinate number of birds. With the World Show, the preparation for each starts before the previous one has been staged. Yet this record entry of 32,062 birds caught everyone by surprise, to the point that extra judges had to be drafted in – hence my luck.

Receiving a last-minute invitation to judge – over the phone and direct from the general secretary of the OMJ Executive Committee – was unbelievable. My affirmative reply still reverberates in my mind. My good friend Ghalib Al-Nasser had likewise been invited to judge the budgerigar section. So, having informed COM-UK about my bit of luck, I arranged to travel to Cesena.

All this was totally out of the ordinary. Judges for any World Show are never contacted directly by COM/OMJ or the show organisers. Instead, COM/OMJ notifies each member country of the number of judges invited, based on the projected entry. Each country then chooses from its own OMJ judges register those who will attend. This time, circumstances were exceptional.

Picture 138 judges, after travelling from distant corners of the continent, driven in two full coaches to the Fiera di Cesena, about to enter the greatest bird show arena of all time. The apprehension was beyond description. To have lived that moment is something to treasure.