Arts, crafts and photos oh my!

Danielle Switalski

Photos line the walls, quilted items are sprawled out along the tabletops, mouth-watering baked goods fill the refridgerators, hand-made bracelets and creativity fill the arts and crafts building at the fair this year. Any art or craft a person could think of would most likely be found at the fair this year as the talented come together to share their hobbies and skills with the world.

Not a moment passed by when the building wasn’t filled with onlookers admiring the work of all those who took the time to enter their items into the fair this year.

Judy Tribulout, co-superintendent of the art, crafts and photography division of the fair said there were 152 art entries, 141 craft entries and 348 photography entries this year.

“It’s more than we had last year but it fluctuates every year so you never know what you’re going to get,” said Tribulout.

Entries were done by people of all ages and were all extremely different. At the end of the building on one of the cabinets lay a volcano sculpture surrounded by dinosaurs, a depiction that looked like it came straight out of Jurassic Park. The work was done by 6 year old Jackson Wood who made the scultpture out of plaster and glued it to a piece of wood. Surrounding the volcano were some of Wood’s dinosaurs looking posed to run away from the volcanic lava. Woods also painted the volcano and grass. He said the project took him an entire day to make. And when asked why he decided to make this art project he answered simply “I really like dinosaurs.”

For the arts, crafts and photography division, a judge comes in from out-of county to go through all the entries to team up with one more judge from the county as Tribulout said this way there is no bias when it comes to the judging. This year the judge was brought in from Missoula. Judging lasted all day last Tuesday from 9:00 in the morning until 6:00 at night with only a short break for lunch. Seeing all the entries this year, it was one long day for the two judges.

When looking at the various arts and crafts, the judges look for craftsmanship and technique. For photography they look for artistic composition, on the photos clarity and depth of field and “the whole nine yards,” added Tribulout.

As for this years arts, crafts and photography division Tribulout said “everything went very well this year.”

People could begin picking up their items beginning at 6:00 Sunday evening.