Father and Kid prepare for the Fair

The race is on, the printer is whirling and the artistic strokes flurry.

You guessed it, ladies and germs, the Phillips County Fair is only four weeks away and that means one thing in the old Hebert household…Sophia is a Whirling Dervish of creativity as she attempts to assemble as many entries for the exhibits as humanly possible (if you consider teenagers of the human species.)

The last two years, Old Money Bags Soph has cleaned up at the fair in the categories of photography and art and has brought home dozens of first place ribbons and a few nifty checks to take to the bank. The ribbons hang from her bedroom walls and the money burned a hole through her pocket faster than a hornet stung stallion. The life and times of this young artist are very exciting this time of year and we both look forward to seeing her works on display side-by-side with the rest of this year’s entries.

For years, whilst we lived in Superior, we always assumed that you had to be a 4-H member to enter any of the contest at the Mineral County Fair, no one was much help in pointing us to the correct actions to take to participate there. Different story here. A quick chat with an office mate our first summer in Phillips County assured us that the anyone can enter – from preschool to senior citizen – and while the 4H program thrives at our local fair, there are opportunities for all types of creative folk, cooks, gardeners, this list goes on and on.

Last year at the PC Fair, the number of exhibits jumped from 231 to 340 and entries judged shot up from 1,916 to 2,252. Big tip of the hat to all the volunteers who help set up the booths and who judge the entries. I was the photography judge back at the Mineral County Fair and it was an all-day affair (all week affair for those charged with manning the booths during the fair week.)

Walking through the exhibits with Sophia after they have been judged is exciting for both the young lady and her grayish dad. If you haven’t had your children take part in the festivities, you ought to. It is a nice lesson on how handwork can payoff and that sloppy work can leave you in the poorhouse and ribbon-less.

Thanks for reading and see you at the fair.

P.S. We still have Open Class Premium Books available at the PCN offices and the deadline for entries at the Fair is Thursday, August 4 at 8 p.m.