I realize it’s months away, but Chelsea Community Fair week will be here before you know it. And I, for one, can’t wait. As longtime readers know, this is my busiest but most favorite time of year.
Like the magic of Christmas, suddenly fair week looms and you are scrambling to put the finishing touches on your Green Barn entries.
So why not get started on them this winter?
My yearly cross-stitch entries for the Chelsea Community Fair take many, many months to create. So I am always working on what I’ll enter a year or two in advance. With no fair in 2020, my adorable three little piggies will be my entry for 2021. And, they are all framed and up on the wall making me smile every time I look in their direction.
In 2020, I decided to do something different during these virus-y times. I’ve gone to the birds, switching back and forth, working on two different pieces.
One, a pair of Baltimore Orioles, is a gift for a friend who found joy feeding many of them last summer when they visited her feeders.
The second, a hummingbird design – is a realistic reminder of the joy I derived from watching the many hummingbirds that visited my feeders last summer.
When I needed a break from it all, I sat on the porch and watched them feed. They never disappointed. And, I rarely had to wait long to be entertained. And were they hungry. Some weeks I wound up refilling the feeders twice a week to keep up.
I’ll keep readers updated in 2021, as the bird-y projects take flight.
And just as the planning for the Chelsea Community Fair takes place year-round, so can your plans for entries for the green barn.
Winter is the perfect time to try out those recipes – we’re all spending a lot more time in the kitchen, anyway, right? Decide what baked goods you will enter this year. Test out fudge or bread or new cookie recipes. You can enter pies and biscuits, even pretzels. Did you know there’s even a Jiffy Mix category?
Spend a cold snowy day practicing your cake or cupcake decorating techniques. (You can find a previous premium book online at www.chelseafair.org if you need inspiration for the many different classes you can enter.)
And the fun of testing out the baked goods recipes? You get to eat them when you’re done. A win-win.
Winter is also the perfect time to head outside, breathe in some fresh air and take some amazing photos of nature in its pristine white or icy crystalized splendor, then pick the best ones and enter them in the photo department.
It’s also the perfect time to work on those incredible craft entries. Some of them are projects the whole family can enjoy creating. So, break out the construction paper or card stock, or devise a cleverly wrapped box. I bet you have lots of left-over Christmas paper in the house.
Maybe you have Play Dough or clay or Legos in the house. This is a great time to make a fun farm scene or even construct a diorama.
Find your charcoal, paints or pastels and use your imagination. Or let nature be your guide.
Dust off the sewing machine and make an apron or dress. How about a vest or a Halloween costume?
Have you always wanted to learn to knit, latch hook, crochet, quilt, needlepoint or cross stitch, but don’t know where to start? There are lots of U-tube videos and Facebook groups to get you going and answer your questions if you run into a snag.
Although growing crops for the vegetable department will have to wait, you can choose seeds to try something new or work on your potted indoor plants so they are looking gorgeous in August for entry into the floriculture department.
Many of us have done a lot more cleaning and decluttering and organizing our homes in 2020. Did you come across an interesting antique that could be entered in that department?
Don’t bemoan the cold or icy weather, use it to your advantage and be inspired by it.
Make 2021 the year you enter lots of exhibits at the Chelsea Community Fair. It’s lots of fun and the bragging rights of winning a ribbon or two can last the whole year.
Mark your calendars – fair week is Aug. 24-28, 2021.
And entry day for the green barn is Aug. 22.
Hope to see you there.
