Well, Fair Week is over for the year. Mommy was exhausted. She is superintendent for Food Preservation and Nutrition, and so she has been doing prep work regularly for months. Then she was busy the whole week leading up to it decorating and accepting entry turn-in. Then she was busy the whole week managing the lodge. Then she was there on Sunday until late so people could come pick up their entries.
For those who enjoy coming to the fair and seeing all the stuff the kids and grownups had made and turned in for judging, as well as all the people who turn stuff in, take a moment to appreciate all the unpaid volunteer hours that go in to make this possible.
The two older girls were also heavily involved, but even Seppi got in on it this year.
He got a blue (first class, essentially an “A”) on his bird house.
Evie got best in class for her basket she made at Swiss Kids Kamp.
Ellie got blues on two of her photos.
I thought this was actually one of the best photos entered.
And Evie got grand champion for one of her photos.
Behold! From Aunt Dude’s garden, the largest zucchini entered by a kid in the fair! Inspired by this success, Ellie wants to grow and even more giant zucchini next year, bigger than the grownups’ zucchinis.
Evie made this plaid capelet, and entered it for sewing and fashion revue. It is a surprisingly complex little piece, that required some special equipment and techniques to match the plaid so that the pattern would continue unbroken across the seams, and to work the light and slippery lining matching it to the much thicker and heavier wool fabric.
And she took Grand Champion (second year in a row).
Ellie entered in the cooking judging event. This is an event where the participants have to judge a cooking entry, and make comments on it, score it objectively, and then do “verbal reasoning.” That is, they have to give reasons for each of their choices and explain why they gave the score they did. As a cloverbud, Ellie is technically not even eligible to compete, but they let her try anyway. She ended up taking first place in both judging and verbal reasoning, beating out all the Seniors and Intermediates that entered! Not bad for an 8-year-old who last year was terrified even to talk to a strange adult. Mommy has done a great job working with her and encouraging her and giving her opportunities to build that confidence.
Evie and Ellie both did outstanding with their canning as well, and Ellie took first place and got a special award from the Washington Wheat Grower’s Association for her whole wheat scones.
Behind all the success there is Mommy, teaching canning, taking them to sewing, gently (but firmly) insisting that they stick to their projects and finish them, enforcing standards, chauffeuring them to 4H, etc. She’s the best Mommy ever!
