WKC Inside Scoop with Don Sturz, Tell YOUR Stories

Don Sturz and host Laura Reeves sit down at the Rose City Classic to discuss the 2024 Westminster Kennel Club dog show and plans for the future.

Dr. Donald Sturz joins host Laura Reeves to discuss this year’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Queens, NY and plans for the future.

This year the club will celebrate the 90^th anniversary of Junior Showmanship, Sturz noted, while the show is dedicated to the memory of Dave Helming. Sturz describes the search for new turf, new bracing over the courts for the outdoor rings, a gelato stand, an outdoor bar and new ticketing resources for evening events.

“We want to be respectful and pay homage to the history and the tradition of Westminster, but at the same time, attempt to move forward and remain relevant,” Sturz said. “Always keeping the experience for the dogs and the exhibitors as the priority. And it’s not always easy to juggle that.

“Will we ever be back in Madison Square Garden? That’s what you all want to know. Everybody wants to know, will we ever go back to the Garden?

“Okay, so my standard answer has been for the past year, never say never. Remember, I grew up in this. I showed at Westminster for the first time when I was 10 years old … I’ve moved to calling it Westminster because we’re not calling it the Garden … so I’d like to get back to being able to say “the Garden” so it is something that we’re working on.

“The fact of the matter is Madison Square Garden was remodeled and when they did that remodeling it’s what took away all that space. So there’s no way to have a daytime event. So that’s how we ended up with the Piers. So then that thing called covid hit and during that time Pier 92 fell into the water … so that’s gone. Pier 94 is actually being remodeled and will no longer be an exhibition space. It’s going to be smaller spaces for individual businesses and so on.

“So the Piers are off the table. (We) really basically looked at every possible venue in New York City or the metropolitan area. You know, we went to Newark … we had to exhaust everything, right? We also went a little further out into Queens, to the Nassau border and looked at an arena there. And all of these, we kind of looked at it from a space point of view, like, how would it work, right? In Manhattan itself, it’s very limited as to what venues… like, there’s really only one.

“We’re going to be in one of those kinds of venues that’s going to, hopefully, afford us the opportunity to then be back at Madison Square Garden in the evening. So, watch for that.

“The plan is to try to find something for ‘25 that is also ‘26 because we just need to stop moving. We need our home.

“There’s lots of fabulous events in our sport, but there is nothing in the world like Westminster. There’s something magical about that event. That’s something that we consistently commit ourselves to is the Westminster experience, right? Creating that magic.

“So. I think Westminster is in a really great place. I think it’s a pivotal moment for Westminster.”