Fair Results

Friday, September 10 was the opening day of the Puyallup Fair, the 8^th largest fair in the world.  Between 10 a.m. and noon, admittance is free if you bring a can of food for the food bank. They make sure to tell you this when you enter a quilt.

John had a meeting at work that morning scheduled to end at 11, so I figured I’d be able to work out, shower, meet him, and make it to the fair by noon. I gave him a can of beans as he left for work in case we had to go in separate cars.  At 11:35, he called to say he was running a little late, but was 5 minutes from home. He'd underestimated how heavy traffic could get on Meridian on opening day.

We took our secret route back downtown to the fair only to discover a few thousand other people had the same “secret” route.  Time was ticking closer and closer to noon as we crept along. Everyone else was aiming for an official parking lot. We parked in the backyard of the first house that had a homeowner flagging us in. 

Eight minutes and several blocks to go. I should have kept my workout shoes on. I was jogging in 3 inch heels, hanging onto John’s arm to avoid a twisted ankle. At 11:59, we stood across the street from the Gold Gate, canned goods in hand, willing the sign to blink, “Walk, walk, walk.” The crowd carried us along, through the turnstiles, and we were in! How close could we cut it?

Our first stop would be The Pavilion, to see my quilts. On our way, I told John, “Don’t expect to see a ribbon on either of them.” He gave me a questioning look. I explained, “The quilting on them isn’t the greatest.”

We got off the escalator, and walked through the doors, craning our necks, looking through the hundreds of quilts for mine.  It didn’t take long to spot the pink and brown “Walled Garden” just inside the doors; no ribbon. 

If you look closely, you can see my blue and yellow quilt on the next row, to the right.

Almost directly behind it on the next row, was the blue and yellow quilt, “Spring at Last!” Pinned to the lower right corner, was a shiny, white, 3^rd place ribbon! I was stunned!

I had been pleased to finally finish this quilt since I started it in 2004! Then I was happy to enter it in the fair, with hours to spare. To win a ribbon definitely added some very sweet frosting to the cake!

Laura Keolanui Stark is still grinning. She can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com.