Menu
Family Fun Day time to honor Fair 'Spirit' winner and more
Memories may have been the theme of Family Fun Day at the Putnam County Fair, but the emphasis was on surprise Wednesday.
The Spirit of the Fair winner was surprised. Retiring Extension Educator Jackie Baumann was surprised. And new Adult Open Class Superintendent Shelly Tahtinen told a surprising story of judging in the Open Class Art Department.
The 2013 Spirit of the Fair winner is Kim Lawrenz, by all accounts a tireless fair worker and supporter.
Baumann made the presentation to Lawrenz, stressing that the award was not because of the Putnam County woman's creativity in her entries and projects but for "what she does behind the scenes."
Lawrenz had to be tricked by her family into leaving the Rabbit Show to visit the Family Fun Day event and was subsequently surprised by the Spirit of the Fair honor.
"We couldn't figure out when we were going to give the award to her because she's always so busy," Baumann praised. "She's always in her work clothes because she's always working.
"You name it, she can do it. When she sees something that needs to be done, she just does it," Baumann added of Lawrenz, who has been an Adult Open Class department chairman for more than 10 years.
"She's multi-talented and just a lovely person," Baumann added in presenting her the 2013 plaque.
At the end of the program, the tables were turned on Baumann. After a couple dozen purses were auctioned off by Jeff Rich, he reached under the podium to produce another, claiming a "surprise purse" had showed up.
"Let's start the bidding at $500,000," Rich said as clued-in audience members quickly escalated the bidding to a few gasps from the otherwise uninitiated.
When the rapid-fire faux bidding reached upward of $2 million, Rich called Baumann forward where Bonnie Bryan presented her a purse filled with greeting cards and letters in honor of her pending retirement.
"It's full of cards and good wishes," Baumann said, showing off the contents of the colorful shoulder bag before adding, "it's worth $3 million."
Baumann will be leaving her Extension post at the end of the month after 25 years, but not before hosting a couple more programs after the fair, including one right before she is the subject of an open house celebration from 3-5p.m. July 31 at the Extension Office, 12 Central Square.
"It's best to stay busy," Baumann suggested. "I'm going to work right up until the very end."
Meanwhile, Shelly Tahtinen, the new Adult Open Class superintendent, proudly noted that exhibits under her care were up by118 this year, from 802 for the 2012 fair to 920 this year.
"That's greater than 10 percent," she said, "so we're really proud of that."
Temperatures, meanwhile, were down about 30 degrees from a year ago when the building was sweltering with it being 105 degrees outside and the air conditioning on the fritz inside. On Wednesday, a cool 75 degrees even meant light jackets for some of the queen's court members helping out, and pure comfort for all inside.
Tahtinen offered another cool story, however.
She noted that earlier in the week, some 58 people were in the audience as former Billie Creek Village potter Chuck Wagoner judged the open entries in the art department (painting, woodwork and other crafts).
"In trying to pick an overall Grand Champion, he kept coming back to this one 'Rainforest Child' painting," Tahtinen said. "He said the emotions of it kept drawing him back to it."
The painting was done by local resident Sara Ellen Peters, who also happened to be in the audience during the judging.
She shared an emotional story about how she had been watching a TV documentary about the Rainforest and how the people there defended their land with pea shooters.
"Even the kids," Tahtinen said of a story that touched the audience and moved some to tears.
The documentary apparently affected Peters so much she paused the program and started taking photos of the children shown on the TV screen.
The result was the composite child depicted in the Grand Champion painting.
"That's how she came up with the painting," the Adult Open Class superintendent added. "And it certainly does have a lot of emotion to it."
And so, quite obviously, did Family Fun Day 2013 at the Putnam County Fair.