Events October 13, 2007 Bel Air MD: Even the weather cooperated for the first Mid-Atlantic Chinook Club (MACC) "southern" event -- held in Bel Air, MD.  Most might not consider Maryland the south, but considering the other MACC events have been held near New York City & further north, it was "south" for us!  At any rate- it was cool in the morning, but a bright sunny day that quickly warmed to a comfortable temperature for humans and Chinooks alike.   There was a great turnout of show participants and local owners - Diana Fowler and Southwind Tikaani (Tiks) and WoodsRunner Kanku Ota (Koty) were up to show from FL!  Local Chinook breeder Joann Blackman was there with Cloudburst Wonalancet (Legend), and his 7 month old daughter Crossing Creek Clia, and Maria Sommer drove down from NY to show GreatMountain Willowemoc, with Callicoon X Madeline (Maddy) as company.   Most exciting was the "local" MD/VA/DC turnout - Arica and Eric Young brought Clia's littermate Crossing Creek Nell,  Kip and Jennifer Porter had Callicoon X Fred, and Kathy and Brian Young arrived with Cloudburst X Harvey, and Chris Wells and David Mazzarelli came with Cloudburst Bacio.  Because we always have so much fun at MACC events, we had some MACC members arrive from the "northern" part of the region - Karen Hinchy  with GreatMountain Passaconaway and GreatMountain X Lyric Tikaani (Tikaani), Kim Kramer with GreatMountain X Ningo Saba, and Lee Ann Simonson (a wonderful surprise from NY!) arrived with Saba's littermate GreatMountain X Cutler.    After some meeting and greeting, a feast was laid out on a picnic table -- we didn't have a grill on the showgrounds, but everyone seemed to enjoy the KFC and Subway sandwiches!  Somehow, even though picnic "rules" are to bring a side dish or dessert- it seems like we ended up with enough food to feed an army- including some wonderful home-made pasta dishes and brownies.  We may need to do a Chinook Club Cook Book one day to cover some of these great recipes!  Everyone grabbed a seat on the ground or a camp chair, and talk turned to (surprise!) our wonderful dogs.  There was a lot of story telling, laughing, and great camaraderie and much admiration of all of the handsome dogs.  MACC tshirts became a hot commodity - and provided the perfect covering as the afternoon warmed pleasantly.  You don't have to come to a picnic to get your own MACC shirt --> http://www.midatlanticchinooks.org/stuff.htm, although we DO recommend the events too!    It was so wonderful to meet everyone from the area, and to enjoy a beautiful day with an banquet under the sky!  As picnic turned into crumbs and desserts, everyone grabbed dogs and lined up for a group photo to commemorate the experience.  All agreed it was a great event, and needs to be repeated!    Stay tuned for a planned MACC southern event in the spring, to get all these great people and dogs back together.