Stall assignments have been finalized.  If you need to know where you are located, please send an email to egill@twhnc.com or barmstrong@twhnc.com and we will be glad to let you know.

This will give you a quicker response.

2023 CELEBRATION CLASS LISTING *

The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration closed entries for its upcoming 85th Annual Celebration on August 1st. The pre-show entries for the upcoming World Championship topped 2,500 coming in at 2,502. Entries in 2022 were 2,536, which was a 12% increase over 2021.  The number of unique horses once again topped 1,300 coming in at 1,352.

“I am thrilled about our pre-show entries again this year.  Last year was the first year since 2012 to hit 2,500 entries and the team was so excited when we hit that number this year. I want to thank all of our trainers, exhibitors, and owners for supporting our World Grand Championship Show” said Celebration CEO Warren Wells.

The 2023 Celebration will once again feature the National Futurity classes within the Celebration class schedule.  The class schedule includes 14 different classes being split with one of those, Two-Year-Old Stallions, being split three ways.  The Aged Stallions class on the first Saturday night will once again be split into an A and B division after not being split in 2022. The 85th Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration will be held August 23-September 2, 2023. 

The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration has selected Derek Bonner, Leah Boyd, Nathan Clark, David Sisk and Kenny Smith to judge the 85^th Annual Celebration.  The Celebration®® will begin Wednesday August 23^rd and conclude on Saturday September 2^nd.

“We are pleased to be able to name such an experienced group of judges for our upcoming World Championship show.  Our committee did a tremendous amount of due diligence on each of the judges that were qualified and available to judge this year.  While several others were vetted, we feel extremely confident that this group will do an excellent job in marking their cards,” said Celebration CEO Warren Wells.

Bonner, from Mooresboro, N.C., will be marking the cards at The Celebration® for the fourth time.  Bonner has previously judged The Celebration® in 2013, 2015 and 2021 and has also judged the Spring Fun Show in 2014 and 2022.  Earlier this year Bonner judged the Walking in the Smokies and FAST Spring Showcase.

Boyd, from Murfreesboro, Tenn., will be the rookie on this year’s panel, making her first appearance in the big oval for The Celebration®.  Boyd did previously judge for The Celebration® at the 2022 Spring Fun Show.  Boyd has previously judged The International as well as for the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ & Exhibitors’ Association at the 2020 Summer Sizzler.

Clark, from Arab, AL., will be making his sixth appearance in center ring for The Celebration®.  Clark has previously judged in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016 and 2019.  Clark has also judged the Spring Fun Show five times, with his most recent coming this year.  Clark wrapped up his judging in 2022 at the North Carolina Championships.

Sisk, from Columbia, Tenn., has previously judged The Celebration® four times.  Those appearances came in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2021.  Sisk has also worked the Spring Fun Show in 2018 and Celebration Fall Classic in 2022.  Earlier this year Sisk judged the National Trainers’ Show.

Smith, from Manchester, Ky., will make his second appearance as a Celebration judge.  In 2019 Smith judged both the Spring Fun Show and The Celebration®.  Smith has also judged at major venues across the industry including the National Trainers’ Show and Alabama Jubilee twice.

For more information on the 85^th Annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration visit www.TWHNC.com.  

The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration recently agreed to a naming rights deal with Cooper Steel, renaming the old Calsonic Arena to Cooper Steel Arena.  The agreement will include a multi-million dollar renovation to the arena with work scheduled to begin in the coming days.

In addition to the renovations of Cooper Steel Arena, work is nearing completion on Mikey’s Motors new Shelbyville location which will be located on the showgrounds of The Celebration.  The building entrance will be via the Evans Street side of the showgrounds but will also be accessible for all visitors and exhibitors utilizing The Celebration’s showgrounds.

As part of the new building for Mikey’s Motors and due to continued strong storms and damage to the old barns, The Celebration will once again be forced to remove at least one old barn.  That will make five barns removed in the last 18 months.  The Celebration has replaced three of those barns with new updated facilities but won’t be able to replace the newly torn down barns in time for this year’s Celebration.

The Celebration is also looking at plans to improve and upgrade the RV parks located in both the north and south ends of the property.  A major attraction to The Celebration and Cooper Steel Arena is the number and accessibility of RV spaces on the showgrounds.

Due to the removal of those stalls and construction of a new business on the showgrounds, it won’t be possible to force the championship entries to stable on the showgrounds due to increased entries in recent years and a reduction in overall stall count.  The Celebration is looking at construction of new barns or the addition of temporary stalls in the future to allow championship entries to return to the showgrounds.

“It is an exciting time at The Celebration right now.  But with growth comes some growing pains. We will have times when our arena won’t be accessible from the front, times we can’t rent the arena and with our new construction it is unfortunate to have to temporarily suspend the policy of keeping our championship entries on the grounds.  But we are excited to have Mikey’s Motors join our footprint as well as the Walking Horse Trainers’ Association moving their headquarters right into the center of our showgrounds,” said CEO Warren Wells.

“The board and all of the Celebration is committed to the growth plan laid out when I was hired.  There has been tremendous progress and we are only getting started for what will be an exciting time for The Celebration.  None of this progress would be possible without the great partners and sponsors that have kept The Celebration what it is today,” concluded Wells.

The 53^rd Annual Spring Fun Show will be held May 25-27, 2023, in the outdoor Celebration Arena on the showgrounds of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration.  Judging the Spring Fun Show will be Chris Bobo, Nathan Clark and Chris Zahnd.  The trio will combine two Celebration veterans along with Zahnd, who will be judging his first Celebration event.

                “We are looking forward to a great show and are excited about having the show outdoors in Celebration Arena.  This panel is an experienced panel and we are excited to have Chris Zahnd judge one of our shows for the first time. He has done several major shows over the last three years and we look forward to having him at the Fun Show,” said Warren Wells, Celebration CEO.

                Bobo has judged The Celebration® four times in his career and judged it most recently in 2021.  Bobo has judged the Spring Fun Show multiple times as well.  Clark has judged The Celebration® five times, most recently in 2019.  Clark, like Bobo, has also judged the Spring Fun Show on multiple occasions.

                Zahnd will be judging a Celebration show for the first time however he has judged several major shows in the past three years.  Zahnd has judged Marshall County, the FAST Showcase, Woodbury, North Carolina Championships and Alabama jubilee among others since the beginning of 2020.

                The Spring Fun Show will feature 69 classes across the three evening performances.  Each performance starts at 6:00PM.  For more information, including sponsorship opportunities visit www.TWHNC.com or call The Celebration® office at 931-684-5915.