History of the Penobscot Valley Kennel Club

 On April 5th and 12th of 1964 meetings arranged by Doris Graffe of Skowhegan and Mary Burke of Stetson were held at Mrs. Burke’s home in Stetson to discuss forming a kennel club in the Skowhegan area.

 A club was formed and was called the “Dirigo Kennel Club.”  The first meeting was held in Waterville on May 2, 1964 at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Howard Gerald.  There were 35 charter members. Regular  meetings were held in the area and plans were made for the first few matches which were held on September 12, 1965 at Chasses Campground in Skowhegan.  There were 71 dogs entered in the match which was known as a “Woof-A-Nanny”.  The Best in Match was a A-0A match was held at the Bangor Armory on Sunday, May 12, 1972.  There were 197 dogs in the match with 258 entries and 51 breeds represented.  The second A Match was held at the Bangor Auditorium on November 26, 1972 and had an increased entry of 262 dogs making 312 entered and 57 breeds represented. 

In December 1972, after three years of such sanctioned matches, a name change to Penobscot Valley Kennel Club  and under the guidance of President Nancy Upton, the AKC notified the club that it could apply for an AKC licensed point show.  The date chosen for the first show was September 3, 1973, Labor Day.

This very successful show had 637 dogs and 662 entries.  In the following years the point show was held in other areas of the state in connections with other clubs to form the Pine Tree Circuit.  In 1995 we returned to the Bangor Auditorium, for our point show, which will be an annual two day event.  Our AKC sanctioned match is held in conjunction with our point show at the Bangor Auditorium.

PVKC is also a Charter Member of the Federation of Maine Dog Club.