With regional health and safety authorities lifting restrictions for public gatherings, events, and activities, the National Dog Show is officially back as an event open to the public.
The Kennel Club of Philadelphia’s National Dog Show is set for November 20-21 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks. Tickets are on sale at the e-commerce website TicketLeap.com. Tickets and information are also available at NDS.NationalDogShow.com, the event’s primary regional website.
“We are thrilled to be welcoming people back to the Expo Center to join us for this wonderful tradition,” said Wayne Ferguson, president of the Kennel Club of Philadelphia (KCP). “With the year we’ve had, The National Dog Show will be a great reminder of how much joy and love dogs bring to the homes of people everywhere.”
The popular show, one of the most prestigious in America, started in 1879 and has been staged continuously by the KCP since 1933. Some 2,000 dogs from up to 200 different breeds will be on display both Saturday and Sunday at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center. Pre-pandemic, attendance has increased for five of the past six years, and enthusiastic crowds are expected in November.
Tickets, available here, are priced at $16 for adults and $7 for children 4-11, with children three and under admitted free of charge. In two years of research commissioned by the KCP, Temple University’s Sport Industry Research Center found the average stay for a family at the National Dog Show is three and a half hours. With the low-ticket prices plus free parking; the KCP boasts arguably one of the best entertainment values in the region.
“We are a non-profit organization, and the show’s main purpose is to educate the public about dogs; so, we take our admission prices very seriously,” said Ferguson. “Our top priority is to keep this experience family-friendly for everyone, regardless of their circumstance. We let the audience interact with the dogs, so that they may find what canine is best-suited for their household. That’s what makes us unique.”
The National Dog Show is one of three in the United States that is a “benched” show, meaning that each of the 2,000-plus dogs is assigned a location on the Expo Center floor, and can be found by referring to the event program. Pre COVID-19, the only other benched shows in America were the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and the Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
The National Dog Show is one of the most prominent in the world because of its history dating back to the 1800s, its location in America’s fourth-largest market, and national television exposure on NBC, broadcasting the Saturday competition following the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The National Dog Show presented by Purina total audience exceeds 20 million every year, higher than all but the most prominent sports and entertainment events on television.