Submitting work to the county fair offers neither fame nor fortune.
But Misty Cline, 43, of Onalaska, feels that participating in the Southwest Washington Fair’s open class home arts department has value. Not in Cline’s pocketbook, but in her confidence, ability and sense of community.
For the 2023 Southwest Washington Fair from Aug. 15 to 20, Cline hopes to increase this value a hundredfold. By Aug. 9, the final day for open class home arts entries, she will have at least 100 creations to submit in the fair, and probably a few more. Cline has worked on her entries since Aug. 21, 2022 — the final day of last year’s fair.
While expertise in the fine arts is often obtained through elite schools and apprenticeships, the home arts are refined by working together, whether by helping a mother make raspberry jam or by learning from someone at the fair who earned “Best in Show” for their pickled carrots.
Cline first submitted creations to open class home arts at the fair three years ago.
“I kept going more out of my comfort zone, trying new things. For me, it wasn’t so much, ‘Do I get the ribbon?’ It was, ‘This is something new that I’m trying,’” Cline recalled. “I’m going against the best in the county and I get expertise from the judges. Where my husband can be like, ‘Oh, that’s cute,’ a judge can say, ‘This is how to get better at it.’”
Over the last two years, Cline has compiled a binder full of judges notes, clips from the open class exhibitor’s handbook and photos for crafting inspiration. Cline has creations in various home arts sub-departments. Exhibitors can submit quilting and wall hangings; clothing; knitting, crocheting and weaving; stitchery; home arts (such as handmade decor and home furnishings); baked goods and candy; canning; and table settings.
She is submitting mostly canned goods and crochet items. Cline’s canned creations include raspberry honey butter, dried mushrooms, fruit rolls from her own apples, beets, pickled beans and much more. Some of those cans took more than five hours to yield a single batch, she said, and they will be judged solely on presentation and quality of the canning.
For the cozier side of home arts, she has baby sweaters, hats, blankets, stuffed animals, pillows and crocheted creatures. Cline is also submitting beeswax candles, handmade soap, tea kits, earrings and necklaces. Much of her work fits this year’s insect theme: “Bee Friendly! Bee at the Fair!”
Lately, when she’s around the county for vendor fairs and festivals, Cline said, she will encourage people to enter their home arts. Her husband, too, submits creations in the fair.
“Don’t look at it as you’re competing against me, compete against yourself. Do the best you can and see what happens,” Cline said.
Home arts superintendent Kathleen Ament and assistant superintendent Jessie Erickson are hoping Cline’s efforts will inspire others to enter. Exhibitors don’t have to create 100 or more entries either, the volunteers said. Just one is enough. This year, for the first time in at least the 20 years of Ament’s volunteering for the fair, exhibitors will receive a ticket to any fair day of their choosing, regardless of how many items they entered.
“We are not judging on content, we are judging on proficiency,” Erickson said, later pointing out Cline’s Halloween-themed pillow and plans for skull-shaped cups on a Halloween table setting. “I love this because even though I'm not a Halloween person at all, it gives everybody who comes into the barn an idea like, ‘Oh, I could do me.’ It's not just all grandma doilies and lace, which is what a lot of the expectation is. I mean, we got a lot of great grandma lace, but still. … We're really encouraging it because it's fun.”
With the fair’s system of judging, Erickson said, exhibitors really are competing against themselves until the work goes into division categories. Judges grade entries, take notes and award first, second and third place ribbons to everyone. Open class home arts judging is not open to the public.
Ament, 73, said most of the people who submit to the department are close to her age and are often delighted to pass down their skills. And Erickson, 41, said months of COVID-19 lockdown also spurred a “renaissance” of home arts creators, spawning a “sourdough bread craze” and a larger community online of people posting DIY sewing and crochet projects.
There is also room for the little ones in the home arts building, Erickson said. Clay creations, potholders, friendship bracelets, homemade toys, beaded creations and many other popular kids’ crafts have a place in the home arts, she said, whether they were made completely from scratch or from a Michaels craft store kit.
Open class also gives 4H and FFA students the opportunity to submit creations they made in their own time.
“You don’t have to do what you see everybody else do,” Cline said. “Do you. Find a pattern that represents you and be authentic and have fun with it.”
Entry dates and times for the department are Tuesday, Aug. 8, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Home Arts/Community Events Building and Wednesday, Aug. 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., but exhibitors are encouraged to enter ahead of time through the online portal at https://southwest.fairwire.com, which allows organizers to plan out exhibition space.
Exhibitors can also submit to several sponsored contests, which can all be found in the handbook online or in a paper copy from the fair office.
Contest winners can receive special prizes, depending on the contest. Likewise, exhibitors of all kinds are in the running for winning “Best of Department,” “People’s Choice,” the award for best 2023 Fair Theme submission, best of division and other categories.
