She submitted six entries in the contest and one was selected by the Fair’s Board of Directors as the winner of the theme competition. The theme commodity for the 120th fair is horses.

Arnold will receive $100 for her theme idea and a pair of season passes to the fair next June.

Arnold, who lives in Merced, is getting ready to start a new school year at Mitchell Senior Elementary School in Atwater, where she has taught for 27 years. She teaches language arts to 7th graders.

Entering the contest has become a tradition for Arnold and she’s good at it. She’s giddy with pride that her entry finished first among more than 200 submissions. She also won the competition in 1995 for her slogan, “Spirit and Pride County Wide,” and more recently, she took third place honors with her entry, “Buzzin’ With Fun,” in 2009.

What was her inspiration for this year’s contest? “I’m a city girl – I don’t know too much about horses, so I followed the advice that I give my students – brainstorm – just write down everything you can think of on a topic.”

Arnold and her husband, Alan, are big fans of the fair and are thrilled the fair moved to June. “It was so much cooler – we really enjoyed it,” she said. They always have fun running into friends they haven’t seen in awhile and spend lots of time in the exhibit buildings. “We like the gardens, home arts and crafts and the artwork,” she said, adding, “When I’m retired I just might enter something in the fair.”

Judy Douglas of Merced entered “The Mane Attraction,” the second place contest winner. Douglas is a farmer, whose family’s business, Pellissier Farms, grows all kinds of crops including almonds, corn, cotton and alfalfa. She also is a tennis instructor at Merced High School and Merced College and is a previous contest winner.

Joy Gort of Merced, who works for the Merced County Association of Governments, MCAG, as an administrative assistant, took third place in the contest with her entry, “Shake, Saddle and Roll.” The second and third place winners will each receive a pair of season passes to the fair.

Now that the 2011 fair has a theme, the race is on to find a winning graphic design. The fair is sponsoring a contest to find a logo that best illustrates the theme. The deadline to submit entries is Friday, Sept. 24 at 3 p.m.

The creator of the top design wins $500, a pair of season passes to the fair, and the satisfaction of seeing their artwork used to promote the fair on everything from posters, billboards, T-shirts and advertising to schedules, the fair’s website and Facebook. The competition is open to Merced County residents only.

“We encourage the talented artists in our community to have some fun and show us their most creative designs for our logo contest,” said Tom Musser, the fair’s CEO.

The fair’s board of directors will select the first, second and third place graphic design winners at their October 18 board meeting. All eligible entries will be assigned a number for judging. The numbered entries will be reviewed by the fair’s marketing/promotions committee before the winning entries are selected by the fair board. The entrants’ names won’t be revealed until after the winners are picked. The second and third place winners will each receive a pair of season passes to the fair.

To enter the contest, artists may use any medium and submit a maximum of three entries on 8-1/2 by 11-inch paper. All entries become the Merced County Fair’s property and won’t be returned to the artist. The winning entry may be altered for marketing purposes.

Entries may be submitted to the fairgrounds office, 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way or mailed to the Merced County Fair, 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Merced CA. 95341. Submissions should include the entrant’s name, address and phone number and a copy of the following statement with your signature: “The logo entry (entries) are the artist’s own original, artistic creation and intellectual property.”

A news release and photo about the logo winners may be issued by the fair. Information on the contest will be available on the fair’s website www.MercedCountyFair.com. For more information, call the fair office at (209) 722-1507.