2007 N.C. State Fair County Fair Best of Show winners announced

RALEIGH – A handcrafted wooden bowl and a flower-covered quilt won the adult and youth divisions of the 2007 County Fair Best of Show competition at the N.C. State Fair.

The competition had 41 entries from 22 county fairs. The winners both took home a $1,000 prize to split evenly with the fair they represented.

The adult winner was Michael Jones of Clemmons, who previously won Best of Show at the Dixie Classic Fair in Winston-Salem. Jones entered a large wooden bowl made from a single piece of spalted red maple wood from a tree he grew in Forsyth County. Jones, wanting to show how “burnt wood can still be beautiful,” circled the outer lip of the bowl in a black, burnt circle. This is Jones’ fourth time in the County Fair Best of Show competition and his third win.

Eighteen-year-old Laura Mabry of Albemarle won first place in the youth competition out of 20 entries with a multicolored quilt made from pieces of different flower-themed fabric. Mabry won Best of Show at the Stanly County Fair. The Fair selected her quilt to represent it in the State Fair’s County Fair Best of Show competition.

The County Fair Best of Show exhibit is located in the Education Building on the State Fairgrounds and showcases the best arts and crafts entries from agricultural fairs across the state. All entries selected to participate in the County Fair Best in Show exhibit received $200, to be split evenly between the fair and the participant.

Participating fairs include: Alamance County Fair, Alexander County Fair, Avery County Fair, Cabarrus County Ag Fair, Caldwell County Fair, Cape Fear Fair and Expo, Central Carolina Fair, Chowan County Regional Fair, Cleveland County Fair, Cumberland County Fair, Dixie Classic Fair, Halifax-Northampton County Fair, Haywood County Fair, Hickory American Legion Fair, Iredell County Ag Fair, N.C. Mountain State Fair, Pitt County American Legion Ag Fair, Robeson Regional Ag Fair, Rowan County Fair, Stanly County Fair, Wayne Regional Ag Fair and Wilson County Fair.

-kwj, 1,2