Judged at the county fair

The Lindgren family tried something new at the Ottertail County fair last week. We each entered exhibits in open class. We were actually inspired two years ago by Rachel and Ryan Landmark when we checked out their exhibits at the Marshall County fair. It just took us longer to get our act together and try it out ourselves.

A week before the fair, I got a listing of all the possible areas in which the kids and I could enter things we had made. It didn't take too much effort to pull together 20 exhibits. The girls each used a school art project and then made drawings to enter. Most of my entries were of photographs that I had already printed and framed, plus a few sewing projects. Steve even got involved because he had just taken some pictures of the girls and me on Mother's day, so I entered his photos too.

Angelique entered three art projects and earned ribbons on all three.

Abby entered two projects and earned a ribbon on one. If I would have been judging, I would have given her a blue 'cause I thought her Tinkerbell drawing looked amazing. Steve thought it may have looked too good... making the judges think she traced. When you go with open class, you don't get to answer any judges questions, nor do you get any comments, so who knows?

Steve's photographs of the females in his life... he earned a 2nd place ribbon.
I got the most ribbons only because I had entered the most exhibits. I entered three sewing projects and 11 photographs.
Some didn't get ribbons, some got blue, some got red and one of my favorites earned a....
a third place ribbon, but in my eyes, Nixin is a grand champion all the way!

The coolest part and something that I didn't know about ahead of time, is that the county fair pays out a premium for each ribbon earned in the open class. Turns out out of 20 exhibits, our family got a total of 17 ribbons and earned $41. What do you know? That covered the cost of the midway ticket wristbands for the girls! It didn't make much of a dent in our snack budget tho... shakes, cheese curds, mini donuts... mmmmmm. Maybe next year will give it a try again and see how we do!