That doesn't do it either. It's matching more than just one single ELEMENT block. Here's the output when I put in your suggestion (although I think I changed a catalog number in the data since my original post): 

Here's the result:
 ***** Found Kurt (Item := "BrightLite",
                      ItemID := 29,
                      CatalogNumber := "BTLT-9274",
                      Vendor := 100,
        END_ELEMENT

 ***** Found Mick (Item := "PetRock",
                      ItemID := 36,
                      CatalogNumber := "PTRK-3475/A",
                      Vendor := 82,
        END_ELEMENT

        ELEMENT Kurt's SMKY-1978 SeaMonkeys. (counter: 0) *****

        ELEMENT Kurt (Item := "Battleship",
                      ItemID := 99,
                      CatalogNumber := "BTLS-5234",
                      Vendor := 529,
        END_ELEMENT

        ELEMENT Mick's SMKY-1978 SeaMonkeys. (counter: 1) *****

        ELEMENT Frank (Item := "PetRock",
                       ItemID := 42,
                       CatalogNumber := "PTRK-3475/B",
                       Vendor := 82,
        END_ELEMENT

        ELEMENT Joe (Item := "SeaMonkeys",
                     ItemID := 8,
                     CatalogNumber := "SMKY-1978/A",
                     Vendor := 77,
        END_ELEMENT

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In reply to Re^2: can I make my regex match first pattern instead of last? by kleucht
in thread can I make my regex match first pattern instead of last? by kleucht

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