York County Kennel Club – The Early Years

By Tracey Levasseur

According to York County Kennel Club’s website and the widely accepted historical accounts, the current iteration of the club began in the 1980s by Barbara Keenan, Charlotte and Maria Micheliche and other local dog enthusiasts. However, some members said YCKC was much older and that there were old show posters someone possessed that have since gone missing. AKC has no information on YCKC going further back than the 1990s. And an internet search reveals no data on any YCKC earlier than the current club.

So it was purely by chance that while doing some research on a long-forgotten Girl Scout camp in Acton, Maine, I stumbled upon a notice for YCKC’s upcoming match – in 1950! The Girl Scout camp and this notice were published in the Sanford Tribune, copies of which are in the Springvale Library and recently digitized and made available online. These digital copies span 1895 to 1971, so I decided to search for more YCKC information I hoped would be in other editions. And I wasn’t disappointed.

To my surprise the first “hit” on the search came from the December 13, 1934. A group of local gentlemen “dog fanciers” gathered to organize York County Kennel Club. They established the officers and board of directors and set a subsequent meeting to review a set of bylaws and plan a dog show.

By April 1935 a tentative show date is given as June 22. It’s unclear what happened between then and July 4, but that edition states the club is going to have a show but AKC had not confirmed the original date. It’s not until July 18 that AKC approves the club’s requested date: an August 4, 1935. It’s interesting that AKC still hasn’t approved the event just three weeks before it’s supposed to happen! Though the article calls it a “show” it is a match since entries will be taken by mail and on the day of the event.

The August 1 edition states the match will be outdoors at Goodall Park in Sanford. A “new feature” of the event is that exhibitors may bring puppies to sell. Awards to be given include the President’s Cup for the winner of the largest class of any one breed and an award for the exhibitor who traveled farthest. Children’s classes allowed youngsters and their pet dogs to compete for the largest dog, smallest dog, ugliest and prettiest dog.

At the time of this match YCKC had 22 members with officers consisting of President and Superintendent of the match Ralph Spence, Vice President George Bragg, Secretary A. E. Desjardins and Treasurer Herbert Fulton. These members lived mostly in Sanford, Kennebunk and Wells and many were active exhibitors. In the July 18 Sanford Tribune it was noted that several YCKC members would be exhibiting at Pine Tree Kennel Club’s show in Portland on July 20, 1935.

The August 8, 1935, edition covered the match, including photos. Unfortunately the digital archive’s photos are low resolution and this edition’s are of too low quality to reproduce for this article. Eighty dogs were exhibited. A Boston terrier named Yawn took home the President’s Cup and the “prettiest” in the children’s class. There were also 20 children entered with many varieties “of varying beauty and most of them of dubious genealogy.”

In October, YCKC secretary A. E. Desjardins was named an AKC judge for the Maine Kennel Club’s dog show on October 5 at the Portland Exposition Building. The article states that Desjardins may be the first York County resident accepted as an AKC judge.

YCKC’s annual meeting was December 15 of that year and new officers for 1936 were elected at that time.

In May 1936, YCKC announced that their 2nd annual show would be on July 12, again at Goodall Park. The show would be held for the benefit of the Elk’s Charity Fund. The article refers to the event as a Sanction A show.

The after-show report touted the event as New England’s largest sanction show for the year, although it never mentioned how many dogs were exhibited. A silver cup was awarded to exhibitor Florence Clark of Bangor for traveling the greatest distance.

At the December 1936 annual meeting YCKC, besides electing new officers, planned for a bigger show in 1937, including building many new benches.

An interesting piece ran in the December 10, 1936 edition stating that YCKC and other major Maine kennel clubs added their names to a petition for stringent legislation against anyone caught willfully killing dogs. This came as a result of recent poisonings of several dogs in Portland. Among the other clubs signing the petition were Bar Harbor Kennel Club and the Maine Kennel Club of Portland. The US District Attorney told the clubs the state Department of Justice cannot step in unless a dog slayer crosses state lines so kennel clubs must bring the matter to the governor and state legislature.

YCKC had no set meeting site so meetings were held in various places within York County. In March 1937, the club met at member Edward Emery’s office in Sanford. That meeting’s program was “The Standard and Points of the Airedale Terrier.” The April meeting program was “The Standard and Points of the Cocker Spaniel,” and June featured the standard and points of the Doberman Pinscher.

In 1937, 150 benches were built in anticipation of a large entry for the July 18 show. However, only 89 entries came in. The after-show report does not explain if weather was a factor.

By 1938 there were more familiar designations of show classes: 4-6, 6-9 and 9-12 Puppy, Novice, Am Bred and Open. But YCKC still offered Local for York County Barring Members and Members Only classes. New for 1938 were competitive Children’s classes for best handler. The dog entered in Children’s classes must also be entered in the regular classes.

The big news for the July 24, 1938 shows was that a Brussels Griffon from Hawaii, Waikiki Gangster, pre-entered the event. The after-event report stated that the 4th annual show had 116 entries despite threatening weather, and all exhibitors received prizes donated by local merchants. This size show must have been a lot of work because YCKC met the following week and voted to suspend meeting again until October.

Plans for the 1939 show started at the March meeting. Called a Plan D show, it was set for August 6. A silver cup would be awarded to first place in each Group. The stars must have all been aligned, this show realized 143 entries and between 400-500 attendees.

The following year, January 1940, started with YCKC’s Board holding a steak dinner at Brook’s Dinette with a social hour. The 6th annual show was held August 4, with 123 entries. The club ended the year with its annual meeting in December hosted by the Briggs at their home. Mrs. Briggs served chicken dinner to 16 attendees that evening!

In 1941, YCKC’s 7th annual show was held on August 10, and took in 150 entries, the largest show so far. By 1942, the world was turning upside down so the club decided to postpone future shows. The club went dormant until 1946 when their shows would resume on August 11. In July 1946, YCKC met with Vacationland Dog Club at the Cascades (Cascades Inn) in Saco to plan their shows. This is the first time VDC’s name is mentioned in the Sanford Tribune and since the club was founded in 1945 it would appear that July 14, 1946 was to be their first show. One wonders if this meeting was YCKC giving show advice to Maine’s newest dog club.

Sanford Tribune had no coverage of VDC’s show but fully covered YCKC’s first show in five years. The August 11 show brought in 100 entries. Of particular interest was the Doberman Pinscher named Major who took Best of Breed. Major served 2 years in the K9 Corps. His owners, Mr. & Mrs. Walter Butts, were a Navy veteran and Army nurse respectively. The week following the show, Superintendent Joe Abbott published a thank you to local merchants, the town of Sanford and others who donated prizes and made the show a success. Later that year YCKC’s annual meeting and Christmas party were held at Symond’s at Wells Beach. Thirty-nine were present and five new members were welcomed.

For 1947, the annual show was planned for August 3. Many local merchants were offereing prizes including VDC. There were 120 entries with Boston Terriers and Cocker Spaniels holding the highest numbers. Sanford Tribune reported a one-year-old Scotch (yep, that’s what they called them) Terrier, MacR’s Kilton, won Best in Show. In November YCKC again held a Christmas party, this time at the Kennebunk Inn. Each member attending had to bring a 25-cent gift for the tree (it’s unclear if this was an early Yankee Swap or a charitable gift). The club recently donated “20 double blankets, 3 dozen sheets and 3 dozen pillow cases to local Red Cross chapters.” This was probably purchased with show proceeds.

For the 9th annual show, August 1, 1948, YCKC held a special class for children 6 to 12 years old. Also, the prizes were getting larger: largest entry of any breed received a table model radio and second largest received a camp cook stove. Other prizes included a sewing chair, a dog bed, a gallon thermos jug, a cosmetic bath set and an alarm clock. The show took in 107 entries with 25 breeds represented. A Cambridge, MA, woman entered 34 Cocker Spaniels to take home the table model radio.

YCKC held its annual meeting in March 1949 and met at Cozy Corner in Wells. It does not state why the meeting was in the spring rather than the previous autumn, but best guess is the weather may have played a factor in postponing elections and planning until the following year. Harry Tomlinson was elected president and the annual show was set for August 7.

In May the club met at the Webhannet Club in Kennebunk to watch Lloyd M. Groves of Windy Ledge Kennels in Durham, NH, do a program and demo on obedience dog training. YCKC planned to sponsor future obedience training classes.

The August 7 show drew 135 entries, a Boxer from Manchester, NH took Best in Show. Later that year YCKC held its annual meeting and Christmas party at the Kennebunk Inn. Club VP Willard Cowell was Santa Claus and handed out gifts. It was reported that 21 attended the party which included dinner, singing carols and hearing readings (it’s unclear whether these were religious or dog-related).

YCKC’s 11th annual show, held August 27, 1950, was its most successful so far and despite heavy rain the day before. There were 220 dogs entered and Best in Show went to a Cocker Spaniel named Windy Ledge’s Saber Dance. The year ended with the annual meeting and Christmas party at Willard “Santa Claus” Cowell’s West Lebanon home. Cowell was elected president at this event.