Reporter says OESCA members have "Really Weird Pastimes

Of course it's not just the Motor Maids who are getting their first look at Hagerstown. Tom Riford and the CVB have been rolling up one interesting convention after another, making Hagerstown quite the popular place among people with Really Weird Pastimes.


Most recently it was, I am not kidding, the American Pygmy Goat Association's national convention, and up next is the Old English Sheepdog Club of America.

To me, this kind of stuff is so much more interesting than a national insurance convention discussing a year's worth of changing actuarial tables.


And really, for every bit of bad national press we get over the Willie Mays unpleasantness (don't ask, Joyce) the CVB has been pretty good about seeing that we get a lot more positive vibes through the national write-ups these conventions generate.


Everyone's happy. Riford sees it this way: "People want to come here, they want to shop here, visit our parks and historic sites, and they want to see what our communities have to offer. Groups and conventions flock here, and make national news."


I, meanwhile, see it this way: Sheepdogs? Why was I not informed that there would be sheepdogs? How many of them are named Sam? Too bad you couldn't have the American Sheep Convention the same week.


The only thing that makes me feel bad about the dogs coming to Hagerstown is that, unlike the Motor Maids, the sheepdogs might not have had a choice.


Tim Rowland is a Herald-Mail columnist.

I, meanwhile, see it this way: Sheepdogs? Why was I not informed that there would be sheepdogs? How many of them are named Sam?