Benicians win garden display, needlepoint, other awards
Solano County Fair continues today through Sunday after opening to strong attendance Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Deborah Housman, Benicia Main Street events coordinator, and Siobhan Mara, Main Street administrative assistant, had the first shift at Benicia’s booth at the fair, which promotes the city as giving visitors “A Great Day by the Bay” and a chance to win $25 in Downtown Dollars.
“We have more people this year than last year,” Housman said. “Everyone is saying, ‘I love Benicia.’”
If the fair is attracting more county residents, it also is becoming popular with those who live outside the county line.
Terese and Sydney Ford said they have begun planning their California vacations to coincide with the fair. They live in New Orleans, La.
“We thought we’d miss it last year,” Terese said as she chatted with Sarah Nelson and Amanda LeBlanc who let them pet a boa constrictor and American alligator in the Brad’s World Reptiles exhibition area.
Some Benicians who have entered the fair’s many contests are going home with prizes.
Each year, members of the Giron family enter various categories in the fair, and each year their names are listed among those taking home ribbons and rosettes.
Summer Giron already has won a red rosette, marking a second-place prize for her garden that exemplifies a visit to Northern California, with a pair of bicycles and a duck in a pond at either end of an enticing walkway through some flowers.
Siera Giron has won a Youth Arts and Crafts best-of-show rosette as well as a blue ribbon for her geometric weaving.
An old book that became an art object earned Autumn R. Prater a best of show.
And many fairgoers paused to gaze with respect at “A Navy Family’s Closet,” a vignette display that won best of show and a first place ribbon, too.
Mary Frances Kelly-Poh has followed up her needlepoint first place award at the California State Fair with a first place at the Solano County Fair.
A long-time needlepoint artist who began working in the discipline in 1972, Kelly-Poh had a different entry for the county and state fairs.
“It’s harder,” she said about getting her work accepted at the state level.The state fair contest is juried, so candidates don’t know whether they’ll even make the first cut when they submit their entries. Not only did Kelly-Poh accomplish that, she came home from Sacramento with a top award.
Kelly-Poh is a frequent competitor at the county fair, too, and won best of show last year.
She has only taken a break when her husband, Dr. Hoe Poh, was a director and president of the fair board about 20 years ago, becoming the first Asian to be chosen to lead the panel. She worried then that her participation might be seen as a conflict of interest.
This year, Kelly-Poh’s county fair entry was is “Potpourri on Canvas,” and she worked on the fiber art from October of last year to this past April. It’s among the many arts and crafts, collections, photography and food displays at McCormack Hall.
The fair continues today through Sunday. The evening concert, starting at 8 p.m. today, stars Los Lobos. The Guess Who performs at the 8 p.m. Saturday’s concert and a double-bill of Graciela Beltran and Banda La Movida starts at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Fair hours are 3-11 p.m. today and noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Buildings close at 10 p.m.
Admission is $10 for adults, $6 for children 6 to 12 as well as those 60 and older, and free to those 5 and younger and to members of the military and their dependents as long as each has identification.
Parking is $10. Carnival midway tickets are extra.
Those who want to download daily schedules or buy tickets in advance may visit the fair’s website, www.scfair.com/scfair.html.
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