The Oneida County Fair is just around the corner.  Every August just before school starts, we all come together to celebrate our abundance and talents. I have some vivid memories of the Fair.

Everyone remembers Grandma Leona Williams’ beautiful fair entries.  She did quilts and handwork and raised produce and flowers aplenty.  However, the one entry that sticks in my mind is her bottled carrots. The carrots were all lined up inside the jar with little red pimentos in the center of each carrot disk.  The disks were cut uniformly and each one fit perfectly next to the others facing out along the surface of the quart jar.  There was not one pimento that slipped out of the center of each carrot disk.  That quart jar was as awe-inspiring as the Mona Lisa.  I don’t know how she did it, and I especially don’t know how she allowed anyone to open that jar and eat those carrots when the Fair was over. I guess her consolation was having a Grand Champion ribbon to display!

Ruth Thomas tells about her family getting entries ready for the Fair.  They were serious competitors.  The prize money was used for school clothes and supplies, so they were going for the blue.  Then, there were Gladys Evans’ flowers.  It amazed me that her small yard in the back of Jack’s Snacks could produce so many beautiful floral arrangements.  The Daniels Herefords were always on display.  You could tell the difference between the city kids and the country kids by how fast they moved through the livestock barns.  I was a “city” kid and not too comfortable navigating my way through two rows of steers’ backends.  I did not dilly dally.  

Friend Bob Crowther always helps at the Fair and has encouraged Grandpa Brent to participate.  In fact, one year a Brent Evanson onion won Reserve Champion in the produce section.  We were surprised and proud!

So, what have you got?  Think you can replicate the pimento carrots or harvest some giant produce?  There are so many options for entry: quilts, photography, handwork, flowers, paintings, produce, animals, cake decorating, baking and on and on.  Take a minute and find something that will help make our Fair the best.  The best because everyone participates.  Then, be sure to wander through the displays and see if you can find an entry that will stay in your memory for 50 years.  Maybe it will be a jar of carrots, a beautiful photograph or painting, or maybe a giant tomato.  Something that shows how much people care and how lucky we are to live the Good Life!