The date, location, tickets, menus -- everything but the names of the actual award winners -- are now set for the United States Harness Writers Association's annual Dan Patch Awards Dinner which will take place on Sunday, February 12, 2012, in Orlando, Florida.

The 2012 Dan Patch Awards Dinner will not only honour the leading horsemen, horsewomen, and equine stars of the 2011 season, but will also pay tribute to the peerless career of the great Stanley F. Bergstein, the only person in the harness racing industry who is a member of both the Hall of Fame and its Communicators Corner.

The host hotel for the weekend festivities, which includes the annual USHWA national meetings, is the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Orlando at SeaWorld. Rooms are now available for booking, either by phone or internet, and are at a special rate of $109 per night, plus taxes. The hotel has extended this special rate from February 7 through February 16 for those wishing to come in early or stay later.

The DoubleTree by Hilton features more than 1,000 rooms, three swimming pools, free shuttles to all major attractions and much more.

To make hotel reservations, call 800-327-0363 and ask for the special rate for the U.S. Harness Writers Association or Dan Patch Awards, or go to the special USHWA Hotel website.

You can also check out the special Orlando discounts offered to USHWA guests by Visit Orlando. They have a special webpage designed just for us with transportation (airport to hotel), rental cars, Disney and other attraction discounts.

Tickets for the dinner will be $125.00 per person, and tables of ten are available. Ticket reservations can be made by emailing or calling Callie Davies-Gooch at [email protected] or (732) 547-9459, or Steven Wolf at [email protected] (954) 654-3757.

(USHWA)