By Lisa Carolin
At 7 a.m. when the first volunteers arrived at the Multipurpose Arena Friday, Aug. 25 to begin Ladies Day at the 80th annual Chelsea Community Fair, there were already five attendees sitting in lawn chairs waiting to get in.
The early risers wanted to be sure to receive the complimentary coffee, juice, muffins, and goodie bags that the nearly 200 participants enjoyed.
“Businesses are very generous,” said Carrie Trickle, one of the new Ladies Day superintendents, along with Michelle DeFant and Chrissy Hilberer. “We have more goodie bags than people this year.”
Volunteers have been getting donations from local businesses for the last several weeks. Trinkle said that they received a lot of donations from Dexter and Grass Lake businesses this year.
The Chelsea Community Fair Queen Alissa Trinkle and candidates Lauren Baker, Savanna Burchett and Katie Kuebler took charge of delivering all the giveaways to audience members, which included skin care and hair products, distillery tours, and golf passes. The current queen and queen candidates also provided entertainment like a choreographed dance to “Surfin’ USA”.
It’s a tradition for the Chelsea Fair Homemaker Awards to be given out during the Ladies Day event. Mary Tobin announced the winners and explained that contestants must enter a minimum of four of the nine categories, which are: agricultural exhibits, antiques, arts and photography, canning, floriculture, food preparation, machine sewing needlework, and quilting.
The 2017 Champion Homemaker is Lisa Lahti, who was participating in her fourth homemaker contest and was also the winner in 2015. Pauline Linski, a full-time ICU nurse, was the Homemaker Runner-up.
The 2017 Junior Homemaker is Karly Penhallegon, daughter of Duane and Melinda Penhallegon, and an eighth-grader at Grass Lake Middle School. The Junior Homemaker Runner-up is Sabrina Loftus, daughter of Mike and Heather Loftus, and a seventh-grader at Hillside Middle School in Northville.
congrats Lisa and Karly