SIDNEY, IA – The Fremont County fair’s open class superintendent Michelle Beard says new sweepstakes prizes and an appreciation for creativity is  helping entry numbers rebound from the Missouri River flooding and the worldwide pandemic.

Beard: “I’m so happy. Our numbers have been declining. I think  you can blame Covid, but it’s just a declining type of thing for people. …everybody does something that could be entered in the fair, so we just really put word out there that we wanted any entry we could get.”

 

 

The citizen showcase this year pitted Coke vs. Pepsi and encouraged Stephanie Lemonds of Tabor to dust off her Coca-Cola collection.

Lemonds: “I enjoyed drinking it. I just enjoyed all of the items they had, so I’ve probably been collecting since at least high school, if not before then.”

A napkin dispenser a college friend brought from Spain and bottles marked with languages indicating origins in Russia and Bangledesh adorn her collection.

Lemonds: “I did go to the world of Coca-Cola down in Atlanta, Ga. I’ve been down there once, and got some items from there.”

Pepsi did not have a single entry.

Lemonds: “I don’t have any Pepsi. I don’t enjoy Pepsi. I just like Coke, so I brought my Coke stuff. I don’t know where the Pepsi supporters are. … I think Pepsi memorabilia is harder to find that Coke but I know it’s out there.”

 

Barn block quilts were also a popular entry inspired by a movement started at Percival, Iowa, in 2018.

Beth Luth, Janice Chaney and Angie Sheldon organized workshops, but had to stop because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Debbie White: “That’s the first one I went to. I made one quilt there and I loved it. … We were camp hosts at the time and so I made all of these out at the campsite – out at Waubonsie – all of the day-of-the month ones. This one I made at home today.”

Debbie White of Hamburg made her first barn quilt at the Percival fundraiser and now displays one barn quilt block for each month.

 Janice Chaney of Percival said they are rebooting the workshops and organizing a barn quilt tour for Fremont County.

Sabrina Study and Levi Johnson of Thurman brought in Levi’s vegetables grown in a greenhouse he built for a 4-H project. The harvest did not come without hardship.

 

 

Johnson: “Could do a little bit better.”

Study: “We had winds come up and tear off the greenhouse. We had to rebuild and so some of the plants got damaged, but otherwise, I think it was pretty, A+ year for our first year.”