Bring in Spring!

Spring is here! And I have never been more excited for it! With it, comes the 2nd anniversary of our main photo show series' and a quick blog post on a forgotten chapter in our photo show history. To mark the celebration, two photo shows opened this month, Willow MHPS and our new show, ACS MHPS.

Did you know that Willow MHPS was actually the third photo show opened by ACS? The very first show was called Sunset Photo Show. This was a free photo show run on Instagram in 2020 that provided printable ribbons for participants. This series ran 3 separate shows before closing permanently at the end of 2020. Although these shows were not very successful, they were a learning experience and paved the way for the more successful Willow MHPS and subsequently, the ACS Show Group.

The next show run by us was called the Ambers Corner Stables Photo Show and opened in March 2021, a month before Willow MHPS opened for the first time. Ambers Corner Stables Photo Show was intended to be a show with an entry fee, but we didn't get enough participants. This failure ultimately lead the way to our successful Pay As You Win format. The show went ahead with about 25 participants and was a huge success. The spark for a new series ignited and Willow MHPS was created.

Willow MHPS opened in April 2021, a month after our original ACS show. Armed with the knowledge of almost a year of photo show experience, I was able to curate a show for everyone, no matter what you collect. The first show was small, but successful and multiple shows ran during 2021 with the first Championships being held at the end of that year. Since then, Willow MHPS has expanded and grown to over 13 divisions and countless classes with almost 200 members of the group. A further expansion happened for Willow MHPS in July 2022. A live show by the name of Summer Willow Live ran for the first time in Hertfordshire, UK. This was the first live show I have ever hosted and it was an enormous success. Entries recently opened for this years show and it was full within 3 minutes!

Although the original ACS photo show did not run again for another 2 years, the formation of the ACS Show Group required a further show to begin. This brings us to now, and the opening of the ACS Show for the first time in two years.

The ACS Show Group hopes to bring premium live and photo shows throughout the year, as well as supporting and associating with other shows outside of the core group.

I am so excited to share this journey with all of the participants for my show series' over the years and would like to thank you all for supporting me along the way. Hosting shows has become the norm for me and I can't imagine a life without it.

To enter Willow MHPS and the ACS MHPS, check out those tabs under ACS Show Group.