Barbara Saulsbery Memorial 4*Star Homemaker Award
It was Jamestown Fair week in the Atlantic community. Many locals entered items ranging from cherry crumb pies to quilts to jelly and handicrafts.
I went to see the displays and saw the Barbara Saulsbery Memorial 4*Star Homemaker Award presented on Thursday.
Sharon Creeks of Atlantic is this year’s winner. Her winning entries included a red plaid flannel nightgown with eyelet trim, a turquoise flannel women’s shirt, an earth tone quillow, a pink and blue stuffed pony, blue tote bag, canned peaches, and harvest muffins, made of apples, raisins, and nuts. By the way, a quillow is a quilt that can be folded and tucked into one of its squares to look like a pillow.
Creeks remarked that she will wear the flannel nightgown and shirt once the weather cools down, and that she sews during winter to pass the time.
She will have her name engraved on the Barbara Saulsbery 4*Star Homemaker Award plaque, receive $100 cash from the Barbara Saulsbery Quilt Club, a $25 gift card from Fabric Outlet Barn in Sherman, New York, a quilt kit from Homespun Treasured Quilt Shoppe in Carlton, PA, a $20 gift card from Dairy Queen in Greenville, a $25 gift card from The Gallery of Fabric in Mercer, and a United States flag from Representative Parke Wentling.
Second place went to Betsy Laird of Greenville. Her entries included stewed tomatoes that were considered for best of show in canned goods, banana nut bread, peach pie, apple sauce, and apple pie filling. She sewed a peach dress and pink capris and crocheted a vintage-style white apron with green trim. The apron was styled after an apron that belonged to her husband’s grandmother. The book she took the pattern from was copyrighted in 1946.
She also sewed a Cinderella apron made from a pattern that was originally a J.C. Penney pattern. She received $20 cash from the Barbara Saulsbery Quilt Club, a cake pan from King Arthur Flour, and other prizes.
Sharon Shrock of Hartstown wanted to establish the 4*Star Homemaker Award in honor of Barb Saulsbery. Saulsbery was a gifted quilter and seamstress who co-chaired needle skills with Shrock. Shrock and Saulsbery were very good friends. Last year was the first year for the competition, which Shrock won.
Shrock was delighted about this year’s results, saying “I was tickled I had two entrants. We’re getting it off the ground and rolling.” She remarked that while the 4*Star Homemaker Award is open only to Crawford County residents at the Crawford County Fair, Jamestown opens it to anyone. “You could come from California if you wanted to,” she said.
Shrock has been working in either needle skills or canned and baked goods for many years and knows a lot about the fair. She said the more entrants they have for the 4*Star award, the more it will help the fair itself. Fair funding is determined by the state according to the number of entrants.
Since 4* entrants have to submit in clothing, needle skills, canned or dried foods, and baked goods, it helps with those departments by increasing the number of entries in those categories as well. Entrants may submit as many as three entries per category.
There were also awards for the 75th anniversary of the Jamestown Fair. Entrants were encouraged to submit items that featured diamonds in some way, diamond being the traditional gift for a 75th anniversary. Best of Show and Marian Bennett Memorial Awards went to Valli Peterson of Stoneboro for her quilt made in a vintage 1940s style with a period-accurate color scheme.
While admiring the entries at the fair, my mind travels back in time. I have so many memories attached to this community fair. The Crawford County Fair is so huge. Thousands of people come for concerts, to see livestock, eat (what else?) Fallowfield’s pie, watch truck pulls and demolition derbies, and much more.
While I praise God for the chance to be part of the Crawford County Fair through Fallowfield’s involvement, I think Jamestown’s Fair is much more fun. I see friends and neighbors everywhere I turn. I know many of the exhibit entrants personally.
But every time I go to the fair, my thoughts linger on my days in Conneaut Lake High School’s marching band, under the late, beloved Denis Joyce’s direction. I used to get so excited before and during parades, determined to play my best and help our band win first place. Jamestown awards staggering prizes to winning bands. First place gets $700. When I was in eighth and ninth grade we had a fantastic band and won first place. I think we placed second every year thereafter.
As I’ve written before, no person has ever inspired me to achieve my full potential as Mr. Joyce did. No matter how hot or tired I was, especially during marching band camp, he always pushed me to do even better. And I wanted to please him. So I practiced and practiced, sometimes until my lips just refused to tighten and play high notes. Trumpet players get pink or red circles on our upper lips after playing a long time. I never left a practice at school or stopped practicing at home without one of those circles on my lip. That’s how much Mr. Joyce inspired me.
I hope you had a chance to stop by the Jamestown Fair, and that it triggered happy memories, as it did for me.
Have a wonderful week. Blessings!