Gardening: There’s lots going on in the Ag Building at the Interstate Fair
The Spokane County Interstate Fair is in full swing this week and packed with exhibits, food vendors, carnival rides and agriculture shows.
But behind all the excitement and vibrancy we see as we walk through the exhibits is an amazing effort on the part of dedicated staff and dozens of volunteers to organize the show. It’s no small feat to organize the pieces of a massive puzzle into a show that draws in 200,000 people each year.
As the superintendent of the Ag Building, Bonnie Sewell knows all about this. Her job is to make sure all the fruit, nut and vegetable entries are taken in, judged, awarded ribbons and then displayed for the public to enjoy. This includes entries in the giant squash, pumpkin and sunflower categories. She said maintaining events like the vegetable and fruit judging is an important fair component.
“Doing this is fun,” she said. “The friendly competition creates community and gets people outside in the fresh air.”
She added that many of the folks who bring their produce in have been doing it for years and that ribbon, whatever color it ends up being, is important.
From the public’s point of view, Sewell has found that many kids have no idea where vegetables come from beyond the grocery store or that there are many kinds they have never seen.
“We had kids climbing the risers to touch and feel the vegetables until we set up a ‘touchy- feely’ table one year,” she said.
Vegetables and fruit entered into the fair must be grown by the exhibitor and properly prepared according to the fair’s criteria. These include being free of defects, of uniform size, and leaving one inch of stem on root vegetables. The entries are then graded by a group of community-based judges (including this writer) familiar with growing vegetables. Each entry is assessed on its own merits using the Dutch judging system and ribbons awarded accordingly.
Sewell said the number of entries has decreased slowly as interests change and some longtime exhibitors die or quit gardening. Sewell said entering things in the fair is a great way to create a sense of accomplishment, especially among kids .
“It’s a big deal when a kid finds a blue ribbon on their entry,” Sewell said.
In her 27 years as superintendent of the Ag Building, Sewell has collected many great stories. One of her favorites involved one of the giant pumpkins that rotted down the last day of the fair, creating a huge and smelly mess. A large dumpster was called in to haul off the mess. As the maintenance crew got into position to shove the pumpkin into the dumpster, one overzealous crew member tried to push the pumpkin into the cart on his own. Unfortunately, he followed the collapsing mess into the dumpster. The good thing for him was the nearby 4H barn had a shower.
“It’s all a day in the life of the fair.” Sewell said.