Hello all,
Ferret Fun Day is now behind us and if you weren't there, you missed an
awesome day!  We started out with the most unusual hat contest at 10:30
a.m., which was won by Karen Robertson's ferret Smudge!  Smudge took home
the blue ribbon for a really nifty hat with ribbon streamers all over it.
All the lady ferrets were envious.  The next contest was at 11:00 a.m. and
this was the paper bag escape.  This one is lots of fun for ferrets and
spectators.  Francesca, owned by Cindy Roberts, won the blue ribbon for
being the quickest escapee from the paper bag.  The longest sit up was
next at 11:30, with Cindy Roberts' ferret, Fidgit rolling over instead of
sitting up.  Everyone got quite a chuckle out of her trick, but it was
the wrong contest!  In the end, Nicky Butterfield's ferret, Fred won the
longest sit up contest.  Fred sat up for quite a while as long as Nicky
held that cookie over his head.  Congratulations Fred!  Then we held a new
contest which was a bit messy and loads of laughs.  This was the flower pot
excavation.  The object of this little game was for the ferrets to dig a
fake flower out of the flower pot.  Some decided to dig in their neighbor's
pot instead of their own, and some just decided to dig to China!  One
ferret was flinging dirt all over his owner and was going to town on
getting all the dirt out of the pot.  He never did quite get the flower
out, but Renee Burleigh's ferret, Tito, did and he won the blue ribbon for
the best little digger!
 
Then we took a break to sweep the dirt off the floor, to browse the neat
ferret items offered for sale at the vendor tables, and to take a chance or
two on the tons of fabulous ferret stuff on the Chinese auction table.  The
games resumed at 1:00, with the tube race.  Eric Ensor's ferret, Houdini,
won the tube races!  Then at 1:30 it was another new contest called fishing
for ferrets.  This consisted of fishing poles set up with a fuzzy mouse on
the end of the fish line.  The mouse was the "bait".  This contest was a
bit tricky because the fishline was clear and hard to see.  We set the
ferrets and their owners at one end of the room, with the mouse in front of
the ferret.  A partner was at the other end holding the fish pole.  At the
sound of "go", the partners were to reel in the lines with the ferrets in
hot pursuit of the mouse.  The winner of this contest was Lis Shearer's
ferret, Tasha.  Tasha went home with a blue ribbon--what a catch!  At 2:00
we held the floppy duck races, with Renee Burleigh's ferret, Teeka, winning
the contest.  Then we went on to the longest kiss at 2:30, which was quite
a sight.  The contestants had all smeared their lips with ferretone or
ferretvite or lax-aire and it dripped down their chins on some!  That
wasn't appealing to humans, but the ferrets sure LOVED it!  Chelsea
Wording's ferret Gracie, won the contest with a time of 2 minutes, 41
seconds, and .07 nannoseconds!  She could have kissed longer, but she had
to be cut off or she'd still be kissing!  At 3:00 we held the costume
contest and everyone had a hard time deciding which costume was the best.
There was a bumblebee, a '20s flapper, a gentleman in his top hat and bow
tie, an angel and several more.  After much applause, Lucky, owned by
Sharon Holt, won as the flapper!  Her costume was an exact replica of those
old flapper dresses, complete with the hat and pearls all in red.  She was
a knock-out and several of the gentlemen ferrets were eyeing Lucky--I think
they wanted to dance!  And last but not least, we held the best trick
contest.  Cindy Roberts' Fidgit knew just what to do and rolled over
several times.  We thought she was a sure winner, but then Ellen Ensor's
ferret, Houdini, ran up her leg and onto her shoulder after a toy, grabbed
the toy, and ran back down and across the auditorium to stash her prize!
Everyone agreed that Houdini's trick was just amazing.  So Houdini ran away
with the toy--and the blue ribbon!
 
After the games were over, we raffled off the remaining Chinese auction
items, a beautiful hand-made queen size quilt, and the silent auction
items.  We had a wonderfully ferret-filled day, and made some much needed
money for the shelters.
 
Special thanks go to Jan, Joan and Mark DeJesus from Cape Cod for driving
all the way to North Conway (the boonies) to assist with the event, and to
the White Mountain Ferret Fanciers for helping set up, break down, pack,
unpack, clean, judge, and numerous other things.  A huge thank you goes to
Ann Skehan, of Effingham, NH who made the quilt for us to raffle off!  Ann
is a true ferret lover but couldn't make it to the event because she had to
WORK, can you believe that!  Shame on her boss (her husband)!  Thank you
too to everyone who attended.  We hope you will join us again next year!
 
Stephanie MUdgett / Ferret Svcs of Freedom
[Posted in FML issue 2684]