Stopping in to say hello really quick. Fair was interesting this year and very short for us. 15 year old and 12 year old participated in the non livestock judging day. Which went well other than since they had a lot of things out for sneak a peak for the past few weekends everyone had to park in the lower parking lot and walk in. This met that we could not get a spot fairly close to the ticket booth and the gate we had to use.
} Luckily we were fairly organized with having everything that we needed for each judging table in a seperate box, though we did combine 15 year old's items into one as she only took 4 items consisting of a cat grooming kit, a homemade scratching stump that she made at the last minute (literally doing it the night before when it could have been done at least a week prior as we did stop by a store and get some large appliance boxes for her to use for the cardboard needed, earlier if she had wanted to use some of the boxes we had around already but whatever), a latchhook wall hanging, and some very open fingerless gloves. She got a blue on the grooming kit and the gloves and a red on the wall hanging due to rushing finishing up the back, and the cat scratch stump. She ended up scratching a poster on what plants are safe to have around cats and her edible art. This was on top of her scratching her cat show entries back in July after we lost our Joker Edmund when he had to be put down due to uterine tract blockage from cysts. She also had Quiz Bowl canceled but that was because that was one of the events that was canceled due to the fair being a very social distanced affair. She did do her table setting which she got a blue ribbon on so that was in a seperate box especially since she used some of the really nice dishes we found in a complete set at the thrift shop. All she still needs is some silverware and maybe a table cloth or a table runner and placemats and she has a nice table setting for when she moves out on her own that will seat 8 people. We are talking the dinner plates, the salad plates, the bowls, the saucers and the tea/coffee cups along with a serving platter and the sugar and creamer bowls and a gravy bowl. OK she would also need some water glasses and maybe some smaller beverage ones but still it's a nice set for her to own at only 15 and it was a great deal and came with a basket for storing it all in which when she does get her own place I am going to recommend she use to put her table linens in as the dishes could go in a cupboard.
12 year old ended up taking a leather bracelet, a distressed style natural wall hanging, a painted rock, a larger beaded bracelet, a horse sand art, and a clay heart tinted with water colors for her open crafts. She got all blue ribbons.
In her project level photography she got red ribbons on her 3 photos showing getting close to the subject (one of them was slightly blurry and out of focus), and her two black and white photos (again slightly blurry and out of focus). She got blue ribbons on her set of photos showing good and poor composition, her photo story, and her album of general photos taken throughout the year. She ended up scratching her 4 pictures showing lighting from different angles and her trick photography.
In the general photography she got red ribbons on her colored flowers (she needed to focus more in on them instead of the background as well), her colored natural scenic which could not contain any manmade objects (it was too centered between the mountains and the sky dividing the picture in half horizontally but was in good focus), her colored lanscape photo which could contain manmade objects (it was too busy and too much going on in the photo), and her colored domestic animals (it was slightly blurry and out of focus). She got blue ribbons on her black and white scenic natural, her black and white landscapes, her black and white domestic animal, her black and white wild animal, and her colored wild animal. She got a best of class nomination on her colored people portrait. Which because it was a picture of 15 year old she did not put up for the sale.
She got a blue ribbon on her table setting. She ended up scratching her 4 items from microwave cooking, her open foods baked item, and her edible arts. She had her county and fair demonstration canceled, hospitality, quiz bowl, and all class judging canceled as well due to those events being canceled.
She got the club scrabbook done and presented that as well along with 15 year old's help. 15 year old's best friend who is the club treasurer helped with the scrapbook as well. Originally we were going to have Best Friend go with 12 year old to present it but she didn't come to judging day as she did not get her project completed.
They got t-shirts, lanyards, and stickers that said said Montana Fair 2020 vision Past Present and Future The Year We Just Rolled With It complete with a pair of sunglasses and you got it a toilet paper roll partially unrolled.
15 year old and I went down a couple days after judging and picked up 12 year old's best of class nominated photo since she was not selling it. The only items that were exhibited during the fair were the best of class items and the nominated items that were put up for sale. Any of those items that either were not put up for the sale or that did not sell had to be picked up the last Saturday.
They did get two tickets each that would get them in the gate we normally use for fair that we could then take to the 4-H livestock office and exchange for vochers that would get us into the public area of the fair. DH and I made the decision that we were not going to do that, if 12 year old had gotten a best of class we would have used those tickets to get in and pick up her photo on the last day of the fair.
I got a report from 15 year old's best friend's aunt that in order to go onto the grounds using the passes you had to go out and around in order to come through the one gate so they could keep a number of attendance for social distancing. There was no in and out privledges and instead of opening at 10 with the rides opening at 12 nothing opened until 2. Normally some food booths are open between 10:30 and 11. Those exhibiting livestock were allowed to go on the grounds once a day though because of the hassle most did not. They did not have the food booth open in the livestock areas that are normally open which met everyone bought food from home. Pens were by family and each had a sitting area near their pen, stall or in the case of animals like the rabbits and poultry tables with the cages on them (except for the bigger ones like turkeys they get mini yards). Each family was given 4 tickets per day in addition to the wrist bands for the exhibitors and livestock leaders. On days that they had animals there but didn't have shows they could not bring different people in for the afternoon than they had in the morning so that they knew who was there for contract tracing. The tickets had to be used even for children under the age of 6 that in normal years would not need a ticket. They did have a video link for all the shows so I was able to watch 15 yeaar old's best Friend in the sheep show and Best Friend's cousin and 12 year old's Friend (we are not letting them be unsupervised because friend comes up with ideas and 12 year old has the physical strength to carry out a lot of the ideas) in the sheep show as well as in the poultry show. Having the shows on a video feed is something that I hope they continue in the future as then family and friends outside the area can still watch.