NewfStock: 2018 Wrap-Up

What a weekend!

Thank you to everyone who came out and took part in NewfStock 2018, it was a resounding success!

photo by Angela

Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers and the generosity of our supporters, we raised over $25, 000 to go towards the care of the Newfs in our program! What a great way to celebrate Newf Friends 10th Anniversary!

Photo by Lauren

There were a few hairy moments on Friday, and I'm not just talking about the dogs. With storms and tornados whipping through the province many attendees travelled through rough conditions to get to Bancroft to discover no power, heavy rains, and high winds throughout the town. Newf lovers are a tough and hardy bunch and everyone made the best of it!

Fun times at the swim date
Photo credit Allison

Luckily, 15 minutes north of town where the swim date was taking place the storms had moved on, and everyone who came out for a dip at beautiful Diamond Lake had a great time! There was a lot of stick chasing, splashing, romping about and floogers flying at the beach!

Goofy dogs! Photo cred Allison

Finn's face pretty much sums it up!
Photo cred, Allison

By the time our Pizza Party rolled around the storms had ended, power was restored to most of the town, and we could have some fun. About 80 people joined us for food and drinks, we met many new friends and enjoyed catching up with old pals we hadn't seen in a while.

At the pizza party

Saturday morning arrived quickly and volunteers in surrounding areas were still without power. They loaded the vehicles up with the help of flashlights on a very early start. I need to give extra high praise to Erica from Ferghus and Company who survived a frightening experience on Friday evening. A tornado whipped through her community, bringing a tree down on her car (which she was in!), and sending barns flying overhead into her yard. We are so glad that Erica, her family and neighbours all survived unscathed. Being the dedicated, hard-working, and amazing person that she is, she picked herself up, cleaned herself off, loaded up a vehicle and got to NewfStock with a smile on her face and did an incredible job of running our entire game centre. More about the games later... but suffice to say, Erica wins VOLUNTEER OF THE EVENT for her incredible dedication! If you are in the Kinburn area, her business Ferghus and Company is THE place to go for all things dog—from classes and courses to boarding and daycare, an indoor dog gym, grooming and supplies and so much more.

Photo from Ferghus and Co

Our morning at the park started extra early with an army of volunteers working like a fine-oiled machine to put up tents, set up booths and get everything ready for the day. Power was still out at the park, but was miraculously restored JUST IN TIME for the band to do their soundcheck and kick off the event! Phew! With clear skies in the forecast, we knew we were in for a fabulous day!

Cash and Cassidy working the kissing booth like champs!

This quick video shows a shot of the park and some of the action!

The day began with our awesome MCs Ashleigh (you may have recognized her from TV shows like the Marilyn Denis show, CityLine, and more) and of course, the always hilarious Mike cracking up the crowd and getting everyone ready for our big day. They kept the event running on schedule all day long, ran contests, helped with the games, made everyone laugh during the raffle, and as usual did an amazing job of running the show! Thanks to both of them!

Mike and Ash

We kicked off the parade, and with dry-skies, everyone had a smile on their face and dance in their step! This year Mabel, a 3-legged rescue Newf, led the parade pulling a cart! Such an amazing girl she is! Everyone joined in on the fun as dogs of all breeds, big and small, paraded around the park to celebrate rescues and the people who love them. What a sight to see!

Next up, the band Work'n Dawgs hit the stage and provided toe-tapping musical entertainment throughout the day. Thank you so much to Geoff and Bill for once again donating their time, talent, and their equipment to help make our day such a special one.

Our Meet the Newfs booth was a busy spot, with various Newfs adopted from our program (and their owners) dropping by to greet attendees and share their stories. It was heartwarming to look back over the last 10 years and reminisce about the nearly 300 Newfoundland Dogs who have come through our foster program.

Our Seminar Area was a bustle of activity all day long. RVT Lauren ran two seminars. First, a conditioning seminar (new this year), then a Skin, Ears and Coat seminar.

Click HERE to see a clip of the conditioning seminar.

Kaila ran our always popular grooming seminar. Tami and Peggy ran another new seminar about Training Tools. In case you missed these seminars, or you want to review notes, here are the links to handy online outlines:

How to Groom Your Newf

Conditioning Seminar

Skin and Coat Seminar Notes

Newf Friends Skin Issue Treatment Protocol

Collar, leash and tools seminar notes

Working Dog Activity notes

Other handy resources

In the Demo Section of the event, Peggy and Kaila once again put on a great show offering the draft-work and water-rescue demos. These are always a crowd favourite and are met with much cheering and applause!

New this year: Tami ran Canine Good Neighbour (CGN) tests throughout the weekend. TWELVE dogs earned their CGN title at NewfStock this weekend! Congrats to title earners Skye, Mabel, Comet, Triton, and Viola who were all adopted from Newf Friends, as well as Cash, Zeppelin, Hudson, Herbie (Notta Bears Love Bug to Coeffeycove), Keji (Bralex's Kejimkujik), Cava (Top Shelf's last Call at Sun Valley), and Finnegan! Way to go everyone!!!!

12 month old Viola, adopted from Newf Friends, earned her CGN

Our merchandise, auction and raffle booths were hopping all day long. We had some amazing items available and everyone left with armloads of awesome finds! Thanks to all the donors who gave such unique items for our event.

Throughout the park, local vendors could be found selling their goods and offering information about their services. Many great new connections were made!

Our volunteer photographer Eric Weiner took photos of attendees to be used in our 2020 calendar. Pics to follow!

Our fabulous Game Centre hosted by Ferghus and Co was a huge hit as always, with loads of great games to play, prizes to be won and more! Check out the live feed from the local radio station Moose 97.7 FM (click here) of the Musical Chairs game!

Cart rides for kids were ongoing throughout the day and are always a crowd pleaser.

Once again, we had special awards given out this year...

The award for the person who travelled the farthest to attend NewfStock went to Margaret and her Newf Daysie who travelled all the way from Corner Brook, Newfoundland to attend!

Lynda McFadden, President of the Newfoundland Dog Club Of Canada, presented the award for the oldest Newf attending Newfstock. We had 8 Newfs in attendance over the age of 10 years, and a hearty round of applause was given for all of them. The winner of the coveted Oldest Newf prize was Cubcake, owned by Carole, bred by Hannibal Kennels. Cubcake celebrated her 14th birthday on September 13! Wowzers! Congratulations to Cubby and her awesome mom!

14-year-old Cubby
Photo by Black DogBarnyard

Cubby receiving the award for oldest Newf

Two more golden oldies

Many attendees collected pledges in support of Newf Friends, and the top two pledge collectors received some special gifts. The gift (a gorgeous leather backpack donated by Roots Canada) for the people who brought in the most pledges was given to Marissa and Dave who raised a phenomenal $6232! Simply amazing, thank you both!

Our parent organization, HART, had their Grand for Growlers raffle draw for the $1000 cash prize, and the winner was Beth Pepin of Bancroft. Congrats Beth!

Visitors to NewfStock

We wrapped the day up with our team of volunteers up on stage for a round of applause for doing such a tremendous job. What a fabulous team, it's an honour to be part of such a dedicated, kind-hearted, fun-loving group of people who give of themselves so freely. Thank you to each of you for all you do. Newf Friends is so lucky to have such an incredible team.

Overlooking Bancroft from the platform at Eagle's Nest

On Sunday about 25 people and 16 dogs came out to the beautiful Bancroft Eagles Nest Park to take part in some photos and go for a walk. It was a gorgeous morning, the perfect temperature for the Newfs and the views from the lookout were stunning. What a wonderful way to end a fantastic weekend.