KNOX, Pa.(EYT) – Business is hopping in Knox this week after the announcement that the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) have plans to locate its Headquarters and International Museum at the Countryside Crafts building site.
(Pictured above: ARBA CEO Eric Stewart with Austin Stutler, who was the same age as Stewart when he became interested in rabbits through the 4-H Club.)
On Monday, Countryside owner Jolinda Tharan closed on the sale with ARBA. Tharan first opened the store in 1987 after her husband Ted moved the building from Wentling’s Corners. Countryside Crafts closed its doors in 2019.
“Knox is going to be the headquarters for the American Rabbit Breeders Association,” said CEO Eric Stewart in an interview with exploreClarion.com.
“We were established in 1910. At one time, our headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois, (we) spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, down on McMurray Avenue, and most recently, we were in Bloomington, Illinois for 37 years.
“One of the things that brought us here was because I am the executive director, and I’m a Clarion County native. Also, the cost of operations in Bloomington were easing us out. The overhead was crazy.
“I don’t know why more businesses don’t move to this area. It really should be a no-brainer because of the cost of living and people’s work ethic. That’s something that Pennsylvanians should be proud of. A lot of people don’t realize. You go to other parts of the country, and you talk about Pennsylvania and that the work ethic is amazing.”
Another reason for moving to Knox is that it is a central location for its members.
The group’s greatest density of membership is in the Great Lakes region. The headquarters is now only five hours from the majority of ARBA members. ARBA also has members from all over the world and members from every continent except for Antarctica.
About the ARBA and rabbits
There are 50 breeds of rabbits recognized by ARBA with approximately 21,000 members, according to Stewart.
“We support every aspect of the rabbit industry, so we have some people who raise rabbits as pets, some who grow them for show, some people raise them for meat. I raise them for wool. So, they get warm just like a sheep, and when you think of when you see a tag for a sweater or a knitted garment that says Angora — that comes from a rabbit.
“There are entire farms for rabbits, just like you think of poultry farms or cattle farms. That’s another thing our association does: we’re the stakeholder for rabbits in the U.S. with the USDA. Anything that impacts the rabbit industry, whether it’s from the companion side or it’s from the agricultural livestock side, we represent all of those interests.
“There are also six endangered species of rabbits in North America. Through the wild populations, it could wipe out some species. That’s why we have so much coverage of that on our website (https://arba.net), and we’re giving it a lot of press.
“I have a rabbit farm in Clarion County and shear them for the Angora. That’s our business, but there are some farms that sell meat rabbits. Much of that goes for pet food, and some of the best dog food is made out of rabbits, the same reason that it’s good for humans to eat. It’s highly digestible. It is low in fat, high in protein, and ideal for people with digestive disorders or heart conditions. It’s one of the best meats lower in fat and higher digestible protein than any poultry.”
Moving to Knox
“It was two years ago that we relocated our headquarter operations from Bloomington, Illinois, to Clarion with intentions of building an office in Knox, and it was just ‘Providence’ that Countryside became available and it was as if it were only meant to be with the layout and the historic nature of the building.
“It’s just going to be very conducive for our Museum and Library. We’re in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most extensive collection of rabbit-related literature periodicals and artifacts in the world. We even have some of the histories of raising rabbits going back to items that were pulled from Roman archaeological digs.
“This gives us room to expand the library and the museum because it’s at our previous building. We had to have some of the museum artifacts that just stayed box up. We didn’t have room to put them all out. This building is set up to display everything that we have and so has the office space in the back to run our operations.
“The library is open to the public, and that they can come into research breeds because a lot of these breeds might be over a hundred years old. We’re one of the only locations you can go to look up some of this history.
“There is room to expand, and one thing that we intend to do is we need a warehouse loading dock. We plan to build a warehouse with a loading dock, but we want to retain that building’s history. That was one of the appeals to that building — its age and craftsmanship and the fact that it’s a piece of local history. We want to make sure that we retain that history for the community, and it’s a win-win for both the community and the ARBA because the building meets our needs.
“We plan on also making the building available for rabbit schools. When people go to these shows, they will travel 10 to 12 hours. You’ve got to line up judges, and if it’s a big competition, people will fly in when the Pennsylvania State Convention is held.”
That’s one of the enormous rabbit shows on Planet Earth. It is hosted every February, and it is anticipated that travelers coming into that show would also be stopping in at the office to see the library.
“There are rabbit shows every weekend of the year, someplace on Planet Earth, there’s an ABRA sanctioned show. The ARBA sets competition standards in one of our publications. We only produce one new standard every five years, and it just so happens that 2020 was the year that we’ve produced the new standard for 2020 to 2025.”
ARBA had hired some local people as soon as it came to Clarion, renting office space.
“Over the next month, we’re going to get everything moved and begin our operations there.”
How is ARBA funded?
Membership dues fund a portion of the budget, but they also sell merchandise. The largest income comes from publications. They have publications that they also produce and sell, and they also set the standard for rabbits. For example, when a person goes to a dog show, think of the AKC. They are like the AKC for rabbits.
How many visitors a year do you expect?
“It’s difficult to say. I’m not certain yet because with this being a new location sure I feel that we’re going to be getting a lot more street traffic, and if had if we would have had our national convention in Harrisburg this year, we would attract more visitors.
“I would say that it would be easy to guesstimate that we’d have at least a thousand visitors a year, but it’s just it’s going to depend on where our national convention moves around the country each year.
“Even with the local shows, I’m sure that we will be getting street traffic visitors because it’s so close to the Interstate. Every weekend that there are shows in the area, people will be driving through, and they’re like, well, we don’t want to pay the shipping to purchase this merchandise. We’re going to stop at the office or think we’d stop because the kids have a project and want to do some research on the Silver Fox breed, you know, that’s why we would have.
“Even with the rabbit schools, venues are expensive to rent them. However, we can offer our location, and we can open the office on a Saturday and host our schools there. Training and teaching are something else that our members can enjoy.”
Stewart’s interest in rabbits flourished as a student at A-C Valley 4-H.
“I’ve always raised rabbits, and I got involved through 4-H as a student at A-C Valley, and I want to thank Patty Anderson, who was in her 20s and a brand new extension agent.
“4-H is a fantastic program, and it opened doors for me that I would have never dreamed. I had previous careers before I took this job with the ARB, but I’ve been a 4-H member most of my life.
“Patty went above and beyond. I was the only kid from Clarion County that was active with rabbits, and she would take special trips to get me to some of the special competition events.
“I was in the Freedom Seekers 4-H group, 4-H club, and yeah, at the fair with the rabbits. The leadership projects and 4-H pushed me to go on to college and pursue a degree in animal science. I learned lots through the leadership projects, parliamentary procedure, marketing, and Robert’s Rules of Order.
“It got me involved with nonprofit organizations and serving on the board of directors; all of that is what led me to my current job with the American Rabbit Breeders Association.”
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