On the Tuesday before the fair opens, submissions trickle in, but it's about to get very busy in the exhibition spaces dotting the fairgrounds. Kids and adults have to drop off their entries before the end of the day.
Inside the horticultural building it smells like herbs, warm tomatoes and freshly cut flowers.
Exhibitions might be an afterthought for fairgoers who love the rides and fried foods, but for exhibitors themselves, it’s the culmination of months — or years — of work. More than 20,000 submissions were entered this year. There are thousands of categories to enter: any fruit or vegetable you can imagine, quilts, cakes, photographs, bottle cap collections, wood carvings, tie dye, and a more popular youth category this year: Lego models.
Krissy Ross is the director of non-livestock exhibitions. She's the third generation in her family to hold this title.
“Kids are realizing, 'I love to draw,'" she said. "'I could just draw a picture and submit it. I can just build my Legos and submit it.' And it's that simple.”
She went to her first fair in a stroller at six months old.
“My first picture at the fair was me next to the largest pumpkin that year," she said. "When I had my daughter, she was six months old at her first fair. We took her picture by the largest pumpkin. She's in there working now. She's 22.”
Each exhibitor is assigned a number, and each submission gets its own tag: white for the open - all ages side, and yellow for the junior – ages eight to 21 side.
Prizes aren’t big, but the ribbon is a pretty strong motivator. Many people submit year after year.
“We have a long-time exhibitor," Ross said. "Her aunt and, I believe, grandma used to help her show flowers, and now she does it with her kids."
Ross said what fills four buildings at the Sandwich Fair usually can be contained by one building in other fairs.
"You name it," she said, "you can find a spot to show it here, for sure."
Fair officials expanded the youth arts and crafts section to make room for the growing number of submissions. It’s important to them to bring kids in to keep these traditions going.
Karen Monkemeyer arranged jars of jam, canned fruit and salsas on a long row of shelves. The entries needed to be in place, because judging began later that night.
“First of all, check for the seal," she said. "They make sure they're sealed good. They always look at them before they do open them, make sure the texture of them is good, and then they'll taste them.”
Nancy Glover received flower submissions, attaching their tags and placing them on a giant tiered pedestal. She remembered one dahlia master in particular from years past.
“Our dahlia show used to be really hot," she said. "And this little old Greek man, his name was Nick, he brought these dahlias. God, they're beautiful. And everybody's like, 'how does he do that? How does he do that?' Well, ask him, because he will help you. He was mentoring the younger exhibitors."
It’s a blur of activity once all the submissions are in. Volunteers work late into the night to display every exhibit. Judging begins early the next morning. By the afternoon on the first day of the fair, the exhibition winners have been selected.
"It is so crowded by lunchtime," Ross said. "Especially when school gets let out, those buildings are shoulder to shoulder. Everybody wants to see if that a ribbon is on their item.”
While most blue-ribbon winners get a $5 prize, it’s clear there’s something more at stake. Volunteer Glenn Nelson said Gene, a guy in his 90’s, has been entering his woodworking pieces for years.
"When he gets a blue or a purple, especially, he's like a nine year old kid," Nelson said. "He just gets so excited. It's amazing to see that.”
Kelly Stehman is the superintendent of the junior horticulture exhibitions. She knows the work that goes into Tuesday makes opening day all the more worthwhile.
“At the end of Tuesday," Stehman said, "when it's all said and done, and we are done, the doors are closed and we've cleaned everything, and we look around, and we're like, 'we did it. We did it another year, and it looks great.'”
The fair runs through Sept. 7.