The grange hall at the Southwest Washington Fair is a highlight for many families who enjoy wandering through the various exhibition buildings each year. In the grange hall not only is there the opportunity to view all those harmoniously arranged vegetables and fruits in tidy rows and little boxes that somehow manage to tell a story, but the public also can participate. People’s Choice Awards are given each year, and the public has the opportunity to vote on their favorite traditional, contemporary and junior grange displays. Another fun thing to do, especially for kids, is to find the hidden object in each display. It is different each year, and it may be a lady bug, a flower or a little animal. Just check in with the granger on duty, and after you have found the item in each display, everyone receives a piece of candy.
But have you ever wondered what goes into making a grange display for the fair? As it turns out grange displays are a serious and competitive endeavor and the fruit of months of planning and meticulous preparation.
When the theme to the Southwest Washington Fair is announced, then the folks from a particular grange sit down and brainstorm a display. Once a story theme has been established, the items that go into the display are then collected and created, based on the theme’s objective. And since we are talking about granges, the story does need to link back to agriculture, it should be educational and, in the case of the Southwest Washington Fair, it should also be about Lewis County.
Alice Coakley, historian of Oakview Grange and longtime member, has fond recollections of what went into creating traditional displays as a child. “During the winter grangers planned their displays around the coming year’s fair theme. Sometimes this meant building elaborate displays with things like Ferris wheels, rotating diamonds and seed mosaics,” Alice explains.
According to the grange rule book, it is preferred that the items on display be grown in Lewis County. Two types of apples are required in the display, and as many of each variety of fruit should be used including nuts and berries. Fruits need to be perfect, uniform and edible. Vegetables, too, need to show a variety, and each vegetable has its own rule as to how it should be presented. For example, a carrot must have a one to one-and-a-half inch top, potatoes cannot be scrubbed and corn should have trimmed silk and a window square. Throughout the week any spoiled fruit or vegetable must be replaced.
“I remember as a kid when it got near fair time,” explains Alice, “the ladies were all canning by lining beans, peaches and pears precisely in jars. Boxes of fruits had to be checked for uniform size; they had to have stems and then were polished except for plums and prunes.”
The rules surrounding the preparation of grains and grasses are no less elaborate than fruits and vegetables.
“The men gathered grains and grasses,” says Alice. “The grasses had to be in seed but not too ripe to cause them to lose their seeds. The bundles of grasses were tied in bunches, wrapped in newspapers and hung to dry in the dark. An attic was ideal, so they would dry quickly and still keep their color. The grains were also dried either hung upside down or spread out on tarps to dry in the sun. The men and young people would then hand-strip each stalk of grain with a pocket knife to remove the outer sheath of the stalk. Once there was enough to make two-and-a-half to three inch bundles of grain, the men bound the grain into sheaves, making sure not to bend any of the stalks. If the judges found bent stalks, unclean bundles with chaff still left on the stalks or sheaves not big enough in diameter, they deducted points.”
Then comes the all important installation of the displays as the grangers gather at the fair’s grange hall.
All hammering and nailing must cease by a set time to ensure that once the display boxes are filled, no fruits and vegetables that had been painstakingly sorted, polished and aligned in the display are shifted by such activity.
Canned fruits and vegetables in jars of uniform size are painstakingly aligned on shelves, taking into consideration spacing, symmetry and balance, which are all critical factors in the judging. Color plays a big part in where items are placed to enhance the overall appearance of the display.
Along with all the required produce that goes into a traditional booth, each grange should also display labeled items that are considered miscellaneous such as cascara bark, tallow, soap, wool, beeswax, bulbs, tree cones and eggs to name a few.
“Granges are extremely competitive with each other,” says Alice. “Often, the difference between first and second place is just a few points.”
The contemporary category allows a grange to portray an agricultural message that is presented in a non-traditional way. It lends itself to more creativity and also works well for granges which do not have the manpower and resources that the traditional displays require.
“For a number of years now,” explains Alice, “Oakview Grange has chosen to create the non-traditional booth. A couple of years ago Oakview Grange’s display consisted of a small roadside stand called ‘The Farmacy.’ The entire booth was built around the concept of all the wonderful produce and products brought to market by farmers in our local area…hay, berries, fruits and vegetables and honey… along with the joy of gardening with things like flowers, a hummingbird feeder, mason bee blocks, herbs, homespun yarn, cheeses and so forth.”
Now that you know what goes into a memorable grange display, get down to the grange hall and vote for your favorites at the Southwest Washington Fair August 15 through 20. Thursday, August 17 is Grange Day, and there will also be special entertainment going on in the grange hall to celebrate.
