1. Easy to spot is when there are conflicting show dates with the Mass. shows or at the very least when held on consecutive weekend days or consecutive weekends. This seems to have begun when clubs started holding double shows. Previously a Maine club would hold a single show one weekend and a Mass. club would hold a single show the next weekend. Folks would most times attend both shows. We'd be at one show talking about the next show and who was going and what they were bringing. Now because of the double entry fees, people can only afford to attend one.
2. Higher gas prices became a determining factor on choosing which show to go to.
3. Several Maine exhibitors no longer show rabbits. The few newer exhibitors seem to show less rabbits.
We have less shows in Maine now, in part due to low entries and less workers to help put on the shows. There is no longer a WMRBA Father's Day Show, CCRBA Mother's Day show has moved to a nighttime show near the end of June, no WMRBA Oxford Fair or Fryeburg Fair shows, no EMRBA Bangor Fair Show, no MSRBA Ossipee Fair show. So you'd think the entries would be higher with fewer shows to attend. Double shows are nice but it seemed more fun when you have more show "days" to look forward to. The double shows are sometimes overwhelming, running back and forth to show tables all day long in one single day. Not to mention that many rabbits don't enjoy being shown twice in one day either. There is less time to visit, talk rabbits and look over each other's rabbits.
Everyone seems busier than ever, myself included. There are less youth showing because their lives have gotten busier too. Their school extra-curricular activities and sports interests seem to have taken over the more relaxed pace of a rabbit show. People keep saying the youth exhibitors are our future but you seldom see any youth that continue much past middle school in the rabbit habit. Even when various clubs have scholarships for the high school students if they continue showing rabbits.
Having Facebook, email and websites have made communicating with other rabbit people quicker and easier than ever. But I feel we are more disconnected than when we spent more time together at the rabbits shows, club meetings and events and at each others rabbitries. I wonder if other animal hobbies are experiencing the same changes? What do you think?