Deb and I were show chairmen (chairpersons?) for this year's Heart of Dixie Orchid Show here in Huntsville (see http://www.h-o-d-o-s.com), which means we get to do a lot of work organizing this thing and then relish in the praises and wallow in the complaints from visitors and other society members. It's a lot of fun and a lot of work. I run the registration system. We use an Excel-based system with VB automation that I've enhanced over the past couple of years to make more effective. I had fewer complaints this year over last year and I'll take that as a sign that my improvements were effective. We had a total of 393 plants entered for AOS (American Orchid Society) judging this year. That's fewer than last year, but the Atlanta Orchid Society couldn't attend at the last minute because of the illness of a key member (he was bringing their exhibit).
Deb and I entered three plants for judging and won a blue ribbon on a Dendrobium pieriardii (pictured). It was only competing against five or six other plants in its category, but still it's fun to win a blue ribbon.
AOS awards are the big prizes, since any plant that wins one of the AOS awards is being judged against all others of that variety that have ever won an AOS award anywhere in the US. The show had a total of six plants win AOS awards and one received an FCC (First Class Certificate). Good numbers for a relatively small show like ours. Typically, there are only 6-10 FCC awards granted in total across all of the US for an entire year.
