Hampshire County Fair Round Up

We got involved in setting up a display at the fairgrounds for the Hampshire Beekeepers and so while we were doing that we decided to enter many of our farm products. The Beekeepers display took the blue ribbon in competition with the other farms and business displays. The observation bee hive we set up was a huge hit at the fair. We ourselves won 10 blue ribbons for our farm products, and Ruth won another 3 blue ribbons in the CEOS (Community Education and Outreach) displays. The CEOS competitions involve baked goods, preserves, lots of other jarred products and lots of other things in the "homemaker" category. The horticulture competitions focus on crops, fruits and other agricultural products. So we won a total of 13 blue ribbons for Church View Farm, a very pleasant surprise in that we hadn't even considering entering anything until just a few days before the fair. Admittedly, Hampshire County is a very small fair, but it seems to be rapidly growing. There were many more displays than there were last year. People were still streaming through the Horticulture building when we went to pick up our displays late on Saturday. So while it involved numerous trips to the fairgrounds, I think it turned out to be well worth the effort and a real nice experience.