Our slogan and logo, a special story

In the spirit of tapping into creativity wherever we find it and being inclusive, ESCP started planning for the National by brainstorming with the whole club for our slogan. We had a list of about 20 wonderful ideas generated by the membership, but when we voted, “Get Your Kicks” was the hands down winner. Albuquerque is on historic Route 66, and many folks will travel along Route 66 to get to this National.

Once we had our slogan, then we needed a logo to go with it. Julie Bremser, mother of our wonderful Junior Handler and darling of the club – Jennifer Necker – came up with the idea of having a contest for a Junior to design our logo. We wanted a logo that looks like folk art and not something slick and commercial, something people could identify with and say “I could do that.” We drew up the contest rules and launched the contest. 

Lilia Gerdts, designer of the 2012 logo,
and her English Setter Aidan

We got many very fine entries. We really like the one submitted by 14-year-old Lilia Gerdts, who has a blue English Setter young male. Lilia used the design of the New Mexico state flag, which features the sun symbol of the Zia Pueblo Indians in red on a bright yellow background. Lilia cleverly used that sign in her design and had an English Setter jumping through the sun sign. First runner up was Jennifer Necker. Designs submitted by Ashley Browne, Corrie Fabelo, Haley Kaiser, and Harley Swedyk were awarded Honorable Mention. All awards were determined by vote of the club. The award-winning designs will be on display in the ballroom at the 2012 National. We hope everyone will come and get their kicks on route 66 in November 2012.

- Jill Warren, 2012 National Show co-chair