Our Williamson County Fair hasn't officially opened yet. It opens tomorrow evening (Friday, 8/2/2019). The past few days have been when all the entries in the competitive events have been due. Tuesday I took in my art entries for the judged art show - three oil paintings and two fused glass items - along with my entry for "country eggs" (Agriculture division) and "food mix in a jar" (Canning division) Today was the day to enter all the Culinary Arts items - cookies, candy, cakes, pies, breads. I spent most of yesterday and this morning cooking and preparing items for the culinary competitions.
Around lunchtime, I packed up my ELEVEN food submissions and took them to the Ag-Expo center to enter them in their various classes. Once I was finished with that, I walked down to the arena floor to see if the ribbons for the art items had been posted yet, and they had. The first thing I saw was my "Let's do the Twist" painting with no ribbon. Sigh. Then I turned the corner and saw this:
My "He Planted Wildflowers for Me" painting won first place in the Amateur Painting class. I was so excited I didn't even think about checking to see if the fused glass items I'd submitted had won anything. I went to my car where I sent texts to my husband and children telling them about the ribbon. Then I started for home but stopped by a restaurant to grab some lunch first.
Suddenly, I thought of my fused glass submissions, and I knew that if they'd already judged the paintings class, then they'd already judged the Amateur "Other Fine Art" class. So I drove back to the Ag-Expo Center, and went back to the arena floor and found this:
My "slumped" 3-fuses vase won a blue ribbon! I won a blue ribbon in both classes that I entered! I am happy. It's nice to get the compliments of family and friends, but it is also rewarding to get positive feedback from objective sources, too.
Tomorrow night the fair will officially open, and I will go and see if any of my Culinary Arts entries won ribbons.
I should have taken photos of all the food items because I go way overboard! For the Candy Division, I made butter pecan fudge and caramels. For the Cookie Division, I made Honey Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oatmeal Cookies, Triple Chocolate Brownies, and Almond Spice Cookies. For the Pie Division, I made a pecan pie and a peach cobbler. For the Cake Division, I made a fresh apple cake with caramel drizzle. For the Bread Division, I made garlic/herb biscuits and blueberry orange muffins. Each item was for a different class within its division.
And tomorrow I will also see how the eggs and the food-mix-in-a-jar that I submitted on Tuesday did. Like I said - I go overboard - but I enjoy it - and I like supporting the local fair; the more entries, the better the competition. And there is something very charming, healthy, and American about a county fair.
