By Jody Wellington
Houlton’s State Agricultural Fair Exhibit Hall has closed the books on another great year. I would like to extend a big thank you to all the children and adults who took the time to bring their photos, crafts, flowers and canned/preserved items into the exhibit hall to be judged and put on display for our four fair days. We missed all of the local quilters this year. I hope you will consider bringing some of your beautiful quilts in next year.
Our cooking contests were exciting and lots of fun this year. We tried some new things and I was very impressed with the turn out. Thursday was Kid’s day at the fair so we had a cupcake contest. The first contest was 12 and under cupcake contest with 17 entries. The results were: 1, Rose Arnts; 2, Stella and Delia Inman; and 3, Alex Wilde.
The 13-17-year-old cupcake contest had six entries. Results were: 1, Cole Winslow; 2, Olivia Winslow; and 3, Isaac Schools. The Firecracker cookies for 12 and under had six entries. Results were 1, Scruffy Thompson; 2, Joshua Farnham; and 3, Aidan Jackman.
On Friday, July 4, the Houlton Farms Dairy cooking contest was held. The contest featured a recipe for browned butter cream sandwich cookies. There were only two entries with first place going to Karen Hardy and second place to Becky MacIlroy.
The State of Maine Apple Pie contest was also held on July 4, with first place going to Tessa McCormick; second place to Angelina Jackman; and third place to Emily Love. McCormick and Jackman will represent the fair at the state cook off in Augusta in January.
Tropical Storm Arthur closed the fair down on Saturday, but all the contests were moved to Sunday and everything went well. Bacon was the highlight for Sunday. Results of the Bacon Appetizer contest were: 1, Duncan McCormic (bacon wrapped hot dogs with brown sugar glaze); 2, Mary Harbison (bacon wrapped water chestnut); and 3, Janet Wilde (Mac N Cheese with Bacon eggrolls).
Unique Whoopie pie contest results were: 1, Tessa McCormick (rhubarb whoopie pies); 2, Anessa Wilde (carrot cake whoopie pies); and 3, Duncan McCormick (pina colada whoopie pies).
Original whoopie pie contest results were: 1, Sharon Wilde; 2, Angelina Jackman; and 3, Jana Worthley.
Bacon day continued with Bacon Dessert. Results were : 1, Karen Hardy (Bacon Magic Bars); 2, Susan Gresko (Banana Maple Bacon cupcakes); and 3, Mary Harbison (Chocolate covered bacon candy).
Bacon Entree contest results were: 1, Susan Richards (Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole with Bacon cheese sauce); 2, Tracie Botting (BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger Mini Meatloaf) and 3, Janet Wilde (Bacon Gyro meat BLT).
Last but not least the New England Baked Bean contest results were: 1, Janice Lebel; 2, Tammy McCormick; and 3, Janet Wilde.
A big thank you to all the judges whose sugar tooth should be will taken care of for a while and to all the entries for taking on the challenges and the heat over the 4th to cook such great items for us. Hope to see you all next year and you never know we might come up with some new cooking contests ideas.
