“As of Monday of this week, we have less than 10 entries submitted for the exhibit building,” said Tina McGuill of the Refugio County Extension office.
“I’m pretty concerned,” said Kim Blackwell, chair of the exhibit building. “We usually have several hundred entries in by now and that’s just not happening this year. I don’t know what the reason is, but it would sure be nice to know.”
Blackwell went on to say that not only are the number of exhibit entries down, the lack of volunteers to assist in the building during the fair is also a problem.
“During last year’s fair, I had numerous people approach me about changes and improvements that could be made to the whole exhibit building process,” Blackwell said. “I encouraged those individuals to join me in implementing the improvements and generally received positive feedback.”
Only weeks remain until the fair gets underway; however, Blackwell says still hasn’t heard from those who agreed to volunteer.
“Now that fair time is here, those same people either haven’t returned my phone calls or attended any of the meetings we’ve held,” Blackwell said. “It’s pretty discouraging because I want the building to be a shining example of what our county exhibitors have to offer and the three or four volunteers that are on our committee now will have a staggering task ahead of them if they have to do it alone. This building is so important to all of us and I want everyone to be proud of it.”
Anyone interested in assisting with the building is invited to attend a meeting to be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at the fair board office across from the barbecue area on the fairgrounds.
Superintendents for several areas are still needed, including school art and horticulture. Organizers also need volunteers to assist with setting up the building exhibits, decorating and judging along with other less time intensive tasks. They stress that any assistance, great or small, is very much appreciated.
“If someone has 10 minutes or 10 hours, we can sure use their help,” said Shirley Watson, photography superintendent. “Every minute someone volunteers in our exhibit building makes it that much more successful.”
Any county resident is eligible to enter exhibits in the building. Entry options range from canned or baked goods to photography, art, quilting, leather, woodworking and metal arts. Ribbons are given for first, second and third place and trophies are awarded a single entry in each division that is deemed best in show by the judges.
Trophies are awarded in both the adult and youth categories of each division.
The deadline for exhibit building entries is Thursday, Feb. 12. Entries accepted after that date will be subject to a $5 per division late fee.
“There’s still plenty of time to enter exhibits for judging and plenty of time to volunteer to help in the building,” Blackwell said. “If you have some suggestions, I encourage you to come out to the meeting and discuss them. It’s great to have an idea but it doesn’t benefit anyone unless you share that idea with others.”
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