The closing date was this past Monday but the procrastinators are still sending me entries for AFA's Winter Nationals Ferret Competition to be held on December 2nd & 3rd at the Holiday Inn & Conference Center in York, PA. The show is a day and a half event with special events on Friday evening and the title and specialty class show on Saturday. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our most generous title class sponsors for this show. Without their continued support we would not be able to do what we do best for the ferrets! Ferret Depot.com, Ferrets.com, FerretsMagazine.com and FerretBreedersNetwork are sponsoring our 4 Title Classes. Several of them have donated some great items for our raffle, so be sure to check it out! On Friday we will open the doors at 5 pm and stay open until 9 pm. Vendors (who are interested) will be set up and ready for you to SHOP! We will not be charging admission on Friday for the vendors, this is AFA's early Christmas present to one and all. We hope you take advantage and participate. Digital by Joe & Suzy will be set up Friday night and Saturday to make sure everyone has an opportunity to get their ferret's holiday pictures taken. Be sure to join us Friday night at 8 pm for the east coast premiere of 'Return of the Prairie Bandit'. Wildlife biologist and CNR graduate Travis Livieri will be presenting this award-winning documentary. The 50-minute film follows the restoration of the endangered black-footed ferret to the Canadian prairies. Shot over the course of one year, Return of the Prairie Bandit is a fascinating look at the ups and downs of reintroducing a species into the wild set against the sweeping, stark beauty of the prairie landscape. The documentary will be shown again on Saturday at 1pm. Admission is free for all Winter Nationals attendees, those not registered the admission is $3.00. Tried of standing in long lines at the pet store? Tired of the barking dogs making your ferret not be his or her best with Santa? Then have your ferret's picture taken with Old Saint Nick at AFA's ferret friendly SantaFerret event. Santa will be at the show Friday night 5 pm to 8 pm and Saturday 10 am to 6 pm. Pictures with Santa are $5 each. Remember, this is the last show for the season to do all your Christmas shopping for your fuzz, your family's fuzz and all your other fuzz fancier friends! Our vendors come well stocked with lots of unique goodies to make everyones holiday happy! This is the last show for AFA's 2011 show circuit, so it is also the last opportunity for those ferrets in the running for adolescent, alter, breeder and companion ferret of the year to rack up those vital show points. And remember, your ferret must have attended at least four (4) AFA sanctioned shows in 2011 to be eligible for the yearly awards. And we can't forget the Specialty Ferret of the Year awards and all of gorgeous ferrets competing for those top honors. Martin's Cages is once again the proud sponsor of our Ferret and Specialty Ferret of the Year awards. The awards will be presented at a dinner banquet in March, the Friday evening before AFA's 2012 Spring Nationals Ferret Competition. If you missed last year's banquet boy did you miss a fun time! More information will be available after the first of the year at www.ferret.org. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me directly at [log in to unmask] Take care, travel safe and I hope to see you on December 2nd & 3rd in York! Vickie Vickie McKimmey Just a Business of Ferrets www.jbferret.com American Ferret Association Director of Shows and Special Events www.ferret.org Author of Ferrets: An Animal Planet Pet Care Library Series Book [Posted in FML 7245]