Nebraska State Fair

I am a few weeks late posting these photos but here are the top two winners of the Nebraska State Fair quilt competition. They were beautiful and the workmanship was perfect!

The Best of Show went to this quilt made by Audrey Suiter from McCook, Nebraska.  It was beautifully done and deserving of the award.

The Reserve Best of Show went to Loriann Sanders from Scottsbluff, Nebraska.  Another applique quilt that was so beautiful. 

Congratulations to both and to all the rest of the winners of the different classes!

For those reading this that are not from Nebraska you may not know that the Nebraska State Fair has moved from Lincoln to Grand Island. This was a big move with lots of controversy which I am not going to get into here. The state fair was held in Lincoln for 100 years so it was an emotional move for a lot of people that had good memories associated with it in that location.

The first fair in Grand Island, a small city in the center of the state, opened Aug. 27th for an 11 day run. The amazing thing is that the city of Grand Island only had 13 months to build the huge, and I mean HUGE buildings that house most of the exhibits. Here is a link to the Nebraska State Fair web page. I can't even tell you how big the buildings they put up are as they are just enormous.  The facilities are state of the art!

I have heard that the livestock barns and show arena are the largest indoor facilities in the United States. I can't document that but that is what the rumor we have been hearing. The show arena is air conditioned and heated if necessary so it can be used in the winter for other shows. The Exhibition building and 4-H/FFA buildings are also air conditioned and heated so they can be used other seasons too.

The Exhibition building is where the quilts were housed this year. There is a "small" room built inside the huge building and the quilts were displayed in this room. When I say "small" I would imagine that you could put a basketball court inside that room alone.

Everyone was so excited to have a special place for the quilts but the sad thing is that a lot of them had to be folded this year. It isn't the space as there is the same amt. or more space than we have had in the past. The problem, and it is a good problem, was that there were 704 quilts entered this year. Last year there were 456 quilts entered from 177 people and this year there were 704 quilts entered by 257 people. All I could say was WOW - so many beautiful and well made quilts!

Grand Island is more centrally located in the state so it is easier for a lot of quilters to get their quilts entered. The show was great but already we need more room - what a wonderful problem.

I know the grounds are not finished yet and some more buildings are to be erected and landscaping done so who knows what the future holds. Hope it is as grand a show next year as it was this year.

I entered two quilts and they didn't receive ribbons but I knew that they would not place when I entered them. We know when we have done a good job and when there are problems. I just wanted to be able to show a couple of my quilts. The judges comments were right on...everything I already knew so it was not a surprise. She had lots of good things to say too though. (I can't imagine writing comments for 704 quilts!) I try to encourage everyone I know to enter at least one quilt as it is fun to see so many on display and it is fun to see your quilt hanging for the public to see. I always think maybe someone, somewhere might get inspiration to start quilting by seeing a quilt in a show and who knows maybe it might be one of mine that gets someone interested in quilting or trying a new technique!

Lynn