Fair Home Arts Show offers a glimpse of Holmes Co. talent
The arts portion of the Holmes County Fair Home Arts & Garden Show has grown in leaps and bounds in the past couple of years, featuring entries of paintings, drawings, photography and more. Entry forms for the show are available at www.harvestridgeohio.com/resources.
Since Kim Kellogg took over the superintendent role of the Holmes County Fair Home Arts & Garden Show, one person in particular has found out how impressive the people of Holmes County are, and that person is Kellogg himself.
“I never really knew a lot about this show until I stepped into the role, but now I realize how extensive it is and how many incredibly gifted people there are in Holmes County,” Kellogg said. “I’ve been around the fair for years and never really understood how beautiful this show is.”
In 2024 the annual Holmes County Fair Home Arts Show continued to make major strides in its growth, as the show expanded in many ways.
This year Kellogg said the public can expect even greater growth as the committee works toward expanding into new and exciting areas.
“We had our biggest year ever last year, with both the home arts and horticulture shows growing significantly,” said Kellogg, home arts chairperson. “We want to see that continue to grow into something special that truly represents our community.”
A portion of the show includes hundreds of art projects presented by the East Holmes and West Holmes schools’ art department students, a presentation that will be in the Baker Building.
The big red Shreiner Barn near the center of the fairgrounds will host the garden show, led by committee member Peg Brand, while Lisa Hipp will chair the home arts part of the show.
“This show is a celebration of our community in both the home arts and the garden and flower show,” Kellogg said.
One area the home arts committee wants to develop more is the kids contests.
This year they’ve included some new contests for kids (page 61 in the fair book) including a no-bake cookie contest, a toilet paper roll decorating contest, a Lego creation contest, a Lego animal contest and a decorated cupcake contest.
Also new this year will be a scarecrow contest, which will allow kids to bring in their nonscary scarecrows to compete for prizes. There are several age divisions for children.
“We’ve had some really amazing kids entries in the past, but we want to open the door to more kids projects this year,” Kellogg said.
However, the adult projects are an open array of opportunities for the people of Holmes County to truly showcase their talents, from photography and painting to cooking and baking, flower arrangements, fiber arts, fruits and vegetables, plants and more.
“There truly is something for everyone,” Kellogg said.
The committee has gone to great lengths to help the public better understand everything that goes into preparing quality exhibits for the art show, including better equipping those who enter the Holmes County Fair Home Arts Show by providing educational opportunities defining what the judges are looking for so they can best prepare their displays. They’ve even added an ag division to this year’s show, and Kellogg said the new lighting in the barn adds to the viewing experience.
There are shows for both seniors and juniors, with plenty of divisions in both shows.
“We want to fill that barn with horticultural submissions and really make it a showcase of all of the talents we see in Holmes County,” Kellogg said. “This is a great way to get the entire family involved in fun activities that they can bring to the fair.”
If someone has a green thumb, pretty much anything someone can grow, they can enter.
If growing something isn’t someone’s thing, they can submit entries into the photography category, which covers an array of topics including color, black and white, and children’s photos right up through the novice adults to professionals.
“We’ve seen some real growth in the photography entries, and we’d love to see even more,” Kellogg said.
Photo entries must be postmarked by July 8 on the entry form for all entries located on page 64 of the fair book.
There are contests for canned goods, from soup to jams, applesauce, meats, beans and anything that can be canned; baking categories for pies, bread, cookies and confections; and fiber arts including hand-knitted or crocheted items, sewing, rugs, wall hangings, quilts and more.
Like to draw or paint? There will be a multitude of categories available for entry, like chalk, colored pencil, watercolor and acrylic painting, crafts, holiday decorations, ink drawings, and pottery.
Basically, if you grow it or create it, there’s probably a category for it at the show.
“We want people to use their creativity and talents,” Kellogg said. “The bigger the better, and whether someone is a professional or someone who dabbles and simply enjoys the arts, or baking, sewing or whatever, we’d love to have them enter.”
Kellogg said the hope is that by building up the Home Arts Show, more families will be encouraged to visit the fair.
Details for all the Home Arts Show exhibits including entry forms can be found in the fair magazine or online at www.harvestridgeohio.com/resources under the Home Arts icon, where you can find the entire fair program along with entry forms and details.
Anyone with questions can call Kellogg at 330-231-1067, Brand at 330-231-3829 or Hipp at 330-378-4711.