Blue Ribbon Winner - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Blue Ribbon Winner

The Sidney Daily News had a listing recently of all the Shelby County Fair winners and I was amazed how well my sister Lucy's entries did during the floriculture competition. Of the 83 categories, she had an entry in 60 and received a blue ribbon (1st) for 14 entries, a red ribbon (2nd) in 12 and a white ribbon (3rd) in 6 entries. My sister and a sampling of her prize-winning floral arrangements are pictured below.

Lucy learned those floral skills as a young girl from our mother, who always had a thriving vegetable and flower garden. I recall how she would plant rows of intermixed flowers and vegetables throughout the garden, as shown in this 1989 photo.

Dad always claimed the garden was so plentiful because of the fresh manure he’d spread on the patch each spring. We as kids always claimed it was because of our constant weeding of the garden; but in reality there was no doubt it was mom’s skills & TLC that was primarily responsible for the beautiful flowers and fresh vegetables that made it to our table all summer long. Here’s a prior blog post about Mom’s garden (as well as my mother-in-law’s flower garden).

This photo of Mom holding a vase of roses was taken back in the 80’s on Mother’s Day; note all the cards tacked to the wall behind her. She loved roses and had planted some along the white board fence in the front yard, so the contrast with the bright red roses was striking as shown in this photo. As kids, I recall making bouquets of dandelions for Mom that she “appreciated”.

After Mom’s death in 2003, in her memory, I transplanted one of the rose bushes next to her tombstone, but unfortunately such growings were not allowed per cemetery rules so the caretakers had it removed.

Just as Mom got help with her garden, my sister Lucy is assisted by her daughter (and my God-daughter) Leslie pictured here, along with a photo of her kids and Lucy with some of the winning ribbons. The fern earned Lucy Best of Show for the 2018 fair. Also Leslie and her brother Nick are pictured below planting flower seeds in my Mom’s garden back in 1985.

Here are photos of my sister Lucy’s flower garden early in the season and while in full bloom just before the fair. It’s quite a chore to cut the flowers, make up all the arrangements, transport them to the fair and set them up for judging. Afterwards, I think she brings them to local nursing homes for senior citizens to enjoy.

Click this link for the list of all the Shelby County Fair floriculture winners and see just a portion of the floral displays at the fair in this photo.

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