Fair Handbooks Ready for Exhibitors
By Diane Booth Conway,
Communications & Marketing Director
From the “Ugliest Cake” decorating contest to beautiful gardens planted in wagons and wheelbarrows, there’s something for everyone in the 2008 Merced County Fair's Exhibitor's Handbook.
The handbooks will be online at www.MercedCountyFair.com and they can be picked up at the fair office, 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Office hours are weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entry forms are included in the handbooks and the forms are no longer color-coded so you can make copies and share them with friends.
The free 80-page handbook contains everything you need to know with easy-to-follow instructions on how to submit entries in all the fair’s divisions and categories including herbs and tree fruit, hanging plants and bouquets, pies and pickles, holiday decorations and quilts, ceramics and collections, stained glass and jewelry and models to metalworking. The booklet is mailed to everyone who exhibited at the 2006 and 2007 fairs and 4-H and FFA members receive handbooks from club and chapter leaders.
The 117th annual fair, sponsored by the 35th District Agricultural Association, is July 15-20. The deadline to submit most entry forms is Thursday, June 12. Whether you’re a veteran exhibitor or you’ve never experienced the fun of exhibiting at the fair, it’s time to start planning those entries because the fair is looking for lots of creative entries to showcase at Merced County’s largest annual event.
“Come Rock With The Flock” is this year’s theme, and the spotlight is on sheep, one of the county's top ag products. Many of the entry divisions such as photography, a “Day of” Cooking Contest, fine arts and table settings, include a class that invites exhibitors to create an entry inspired by the fair’s sheep theme.
The exhibitor’s handbook has all the information you’ll need about the Junior Horse Show and Showmanship. The event is Saturday, July 12 at 3 p.m. in the Merced College Arena. The show is open to junior exhibitors living in a Merced County school district. Exhibitors use the Junior Horse Show entry form included in the handbook.
The handbook also provides all the details on livestock rules and judging including the 4-H and FFA Rabbit Show and the 4-H and FFA Avian Science Show, both of which are on Thursday, July 17.
Horse, livestock, avian science and rabbit exhibitors must read and sign the release and waiver of liability on the back of the entry forms. Independent exhibitors are required to provide the fair with a copy of their birth certificate or drivers license.
The 2008 handbook is filled with hundreds of entry possibilities -- there are some new categories and some changes, too.
This year entry fees will be charged in some Senior and Junior categories. Entry fees are 50 cents to $2. The fee for most Senior Photography entries is 50 cents each and $1 for each entry in the theme contest. Entering the Senior Baking/Confections Cookie Jar category will cost $1 per entry. The fee for harvest dolls entries in the Junior and Senior Department’s Agriculture Horticulture category is 50 cents per entry. The entry fee for submissions in the Junior and Senior Scarecrow contests is $2. For more information on entry fees please refer to the handbook.
Some of the other new things you’ll find in the handbook include the Ugliest Cake Contest under the Home Arts Baking-Confections Division. Cake entries should be decorated as ugly as possible -- the uglier the better, just as long as they’re not too scary or in bad taste. There’s another new class in the Home Arts Baking-Confections Division, “Tricks with a Mix,” just add favorite ingredients to a boxed cake mix. Dehydrated foods – everything from apples to zucchini, also have been added this year. There are classes for meat, fruit, veggies and nuts.
Gardens in wheelbarrows and wagons were a cool, new addition in 2007 and the response was so big there are now separate divisions for Senior Agriculture-Horticulture. “Garden in a Wagon,” consists of fresh flowers/plants in a standard size wagon and “Garden in a Wheelbarrow” is fresh flowers/plants in a standard garden wheelbarrow.
There is a new Competitive Exhibits Survey included in this year’s handbook. Exhibitors are being asked to complete the two-page survey that’s at the back of the handbook, to provide fair staff with feedback on how we can make exhibiting at the fair the best experience possible.
The special "Day of" cooking contests that debuted at the 2006 Fair are very popular and the number of entries keeps growing. The “Day of” cooking contests in the senior, junior and 4-H exhibitor categories are back this year, but there are two new contests!
“Shepherd’s Pie” is the new cooking competition on Saturday, July 19. The contest is sponsored by Jantz Café & Bakery and the recipe must be a meat pie with a mashed potato crust. Also that day, there will be a “Sweet Potato Pie” Contest, sponsored by The Sweet Potato Council of California.
All “Day of” cooking contests are open to any Merced County amateur cook and all judging is open to the public. That means you could decide on the spur of the moment Saturday, July 19, to prepare your favorite “Shepherd’s Pie” or “Sweet Potato Pie” recipe. Just bring your homemade entry to the fair, get in free, submit your entry and fill out the form for judging. It’s that simple!
All entry forms may be filled out the day of the contest. All special contest exhibits will be accepted at the Senior Home Arts Building from 5 to 6 p.m. on the day of the contest. Contest judging will begin at 7 p.m. The “Sweet Potato Pie” contest entries are the exception. Those entries will be accepted from 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 19 and judging will be at 5 p.m. Cooks who bring their food entries to the fair to participate in the contests will get free admission that day. The free admission offer is only for contest participants bringing their food entries through the fair gates. Recipes must be submitted with the entry on the contest day. Entries are limited to one per class in all special contests.
Not only will you get in free that day with your food entry, just like all the other same day contests, but you don't have to fill out any forms in advance. Now that's what we call “Come Rock With the Flock” fun.
The other special contests are “Chocolate Passion,” any baking/confections item using chocolate, sponsored by Save Mart Supermarkets, Tuesday, July 15; "Almond Delights," sponsored by Blue Diamond Growers, Wednesday, July 16; "It’s the Cheese,” sponsored by Hilmar Cheese Company, Thursday, July 17 and "Salsa” sponsored by La Morenita Restaurant, Friday, July 18.
Don’t be sheepish about entering exhibits at the fair, being an exhibitor rocks! So whether you express yourself with squash, scarecrows, succulents, spider plants, sugar cookies, sweaters, salsa, strawberry jam, sports team collections, still life paintings or sculpture there's a category for you at the 2008 Merced County Fair.
“We’re excited about our new “Day of” cooking contest, Home Arts classes and survey, because it’s always fun to offer new things to get people involved in entering the fair,” said the fair’s CEO Robin Hauck. “We’re hoping the community will really support the fair by responding to our survey and entering lots of exhibits to make this the best fair ever.”
Look around your home and yard and see what you have that would make a winning fair entry. Show off a hobby or something you’ve already painted, photographed, collected, cultivated, canned, created, carved, sculpted or sewn.
Go through the kids’ school arts and crafts projects, pick the best ones and enter those. There’s a bunch of categories including sponge painting, Origami, woodworking, jewelry, ceramics, mixed media, collages and wall hangings. Don’t forget about models and collections.
The fairgrounds office is located at 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Merced. For information, call the fair office at 722-1507 or email to Info@MercedCountyFair.com or fax at 722-3773. Check out the 2008 Merced County Fair’s award-winning website, www.MercedCountyFair.com
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