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Fair Season
By Susan Olling
Fair season’s starting here in the Free State. It would be unfair
to compare county fairs here with some of those in Ohio (the one in
Greenville comes to mind) or Indiana (land of Mr. History). The
first MoCo fair was in 1949. Yeah, yeah, not as long as the Great
Darke County Fair, but who’s counting?
We started volunteering at the MoCo fair twenty-one years ago, thanks
to one of our friends. It’s such a distance to get there, well, a
straight shot over the railroad tracks. But why make CSX unhappy? We’ll
stay off the tracks and just deal with the four-wheeled contraptions in
the couple of blocks it takes to get there. We helped with entry
check-in and go-fering for the judges on judging day. We’ve had
lots of fun over the years at what we call a family reunion. One
evening, with a lull in entry check-in, a half-dozen or so county
police officers came into the building. Their eyes were glued to
the baked goods entries. One of the lovely ladies explained that
the building was closed, unfortunately. I’ve thought it might be
interesting to include a police officer or fire fighter as a guest
judge. There probably wouldn’t be any problem with finding one
(or several) who would do it.
In 2008, a category for Smith Island Cake, Maryland’s State Dessert,
was added. This pastry is not for the faint of heart. It
consists of eight to fifteen thin layers of yellow cake (baked in
special pans) and frosted with cooked chocolate frosting, skills that
take a bit of time to learn. The ladies on Smith Island have been
making this pastry for a good while. For anyone watching their
numbers, the recipe calls for twenty-four tablespoons of butter (Can
you feel the arteries hardening?). The Smith Island Cake
category disappeared from the fair catalog after 2008 and hasn’t been
seen since. (Note well, Smith Island Cake is not something I’ve
tried at home. The Smith Island Baking Company ships these
things, if you’re so inclined.)
After a few years of volunteering, some of the folks in the Home Arts
building suggested we consider going to judging school, held in April
and November, to become certified judges at Maryland fairs. We
started this adventure in 2007. Judging schools get us to parts
of the state where we don’t always think of going: the Eastern Shore
and Baltimore particularly. Ocean City in November can be pretty
refreshing. A bonus: the hurricane season’s over by then.
We’ve been certified judges since 2009 in baked goods, food
preservation, vegetables, and fruits and nuts. We started judging
that summer with the 4-Hers. Interview judging isn’t Mr.
History’s cup of tea, but talking to the kids about their entries is a
treat for me. It’s always interesting to hear what was the most
difficult part of the entry or what the kid would do differently with
the entry. Judging vegetables has rewards when herbs are
included. Aromatherapy at its best. We’ve also judged open
class entries at a number of county fairs. The fairs have all
been pretty close by, so far. No visits to the Eastern Shore or
southern Maryland yet. (Although we drove past the St. Mary’s
County Fairgrounds last Saturday on our way to Historic St. Mary’s
City. A tidy little fairgrounds. It’s a two-hundred-mile
round trip to get down there. An overnight stay would definitely
be in order for this one.)
One of the judging school instructors was a lovely lady named Hazel
Staley, who was a mainstay at our fair. She had soft spot for Mr.
History and always asked him when he was going to teach classes.
He’d laugh. She would be very proud of him these days. Last
year, he entered jalapeno brownies (a fourth place effort).
He’s planning to enter jalapeno corn muffins this year. He tried
the recipe recently. Not as spicy as you might think.
We’ve talked about heading to Ohio or Indiana some August to visit some
of the county fairs back there. Who knows, y’all might get to
meet Mr. History.
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