Westminster Dog Show relocated to grounds of historic Westchester Mansion
Who let the dogs out?
The annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will be held outside New York City for the first time this weekend to comply with pandemic protocols, organizers said.
But don’t worry. They’ll be back in the city next year.
The 145th Westminster dog show will be held Saturday and Sunday at the historic Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, about 25 miles away from the city, which as it turns out, won’t be much of an inconvenience for vendors and spectators, who, because of the pandemic, won’t be part of the festivities.
Only the dogs — all 2,500 of them — their owners, and the judges will be in attendance this year. And they will be treated to 67 scenic acres of landscaping and imposing Gothic Revival architecture.
“We are excited to host the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Lyndhurst, a unique icon of American culture with its park-like landscape and majestic castle overlooking the Hudson River,” said Westminster Kennel Club President Charlton Reynders III.
“The wide-open outdoor space at this extraordinary venue allows us to hold a dog show safely while following current social distancing guidelines and public health regulations,” Reynders III explained.
The Lyndhurst mansion was one of the first homes to be built in the Hudson Valley as a romantic retreat. Noteworthy occupants include former New York City mayor William Paulding, merchant George Merritt, and railroad tycoon Jay Gould
It sits at the widest part of the Hudson River, where the Hudson Valley begins.
The mansion was also used for the exterior shots in two early “Dark Shadows” movies, “House of Dark Shadows” in 1970 and “Night of Dark Shadows’ a year later.
Lyndhurst is no stranger to dog shows. The property hosted them for more than three decades from 1973 to 2009.
The Westminster Dog Show was originally scheduled to be at Madison Square Garden before it was postponed and moved.
The event, billed as America’s longest continuously held dog show, will culminate with the Best in Show presentation on Sunday evening during a live three-hour broadcast on the FOX Network beginning at 7:30 p.m.
