CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Hundreds of talented artists live all over Laramie County. During the annual county fair, residents of all ages are given the opportunity to display their work and submit it for judging.
From sculptures and watercolor paintings to needlework and crochet, pieces are awarded a first-, second- or third-place ribbon. For some crafters, contests are not only an opportunity to test their skills, but also a way to show their enthusiasm for the 116-year-old fair.
Artwork will be on display inside the Exhibition Hall at Archer Parkway until Aug. 11.
Quilting
Of all the divisions at the Laramie County Fair, nothing is as colorful or as mesmerizing as the Quilting division, which falls under the Open Class Needlework department. Contestants are judged based on a variety of categories, including the number of contributors, the theme of the design and the type of machinery used.
Interested fair attendees can see the quilts hanging on the walls of the Exhibition Hall. It’s a lot to observe and take in, which is why volunteers, like Cheyenne resident and quilt contestant Barb Gorges, are stationed at the corner of the exhibit.
Gorges has been entering the Quilting division at the Laramie County Fair since she moved to Cheyenne in 1989. She made her first-ever quilt the winter she graduated from college. The house she was living in was really cold, Gorges said, so she decided to stitch heavy denim jeans together into a blanket.
“I had an old sheet, went and bought some batting, put three layers [of denim] together and tied everything together,” she recalled.
Nowadays, her quilts are more sophisticated. Gorges created and entered a big bed quilt this year that won one of the top prizes in her category.
“This quilt is basically for my granddaughter,” she said. “Last year she turned three and her dad made her her first big girl bed.”
The quilt features a rainbow kaleidoscope-like design surrounded by light blue and green fabric. Gorges got inspiration for the rainbow by attending a six-hour quilting class led by renowned Montana-based quilter John Flynn.
“I got home and I had to figure out how to turn this into a quilt shape,” she said. “I went shopping for fabric and I did the math and put the rest of the quilt together.”
In total, she spent roughly 36 hours designing before she sent it off to a quilter in Buffalo, who would assemble the batting and stitch the materials together.
For Gorges, quilting allows her to concentrate on one task and create something meaningful for her loved ones. She’s already thinking about making a graduation quilt for her daughter-in-law, who is finishing up her master’s degree.
“What it means is that I have to concentrate on what I’m doing, I can’t think about other things,” she said. “It’s a good way to make special occasions; it can’t be replicated anywhere else.”
Crafts
Another popular department contest at the fair is Crafts, where residents can submit various types of pieces including ceramics, jewelry, leather work, Lego buildings and papier-mâché. Contestants are judged based on their choice of medium and which age category they belong to. While first-, second- and third-place ribbons were awarded on Aug. 3, fair attendees can still vote for their favorite piece. The winning artwork will receive the “People’s Choice Award” at the end of the fair.
Sheala Roof, superintendent of the Crafts department and a 24-year fair volunteer, sits at a table outside the Crafts section every day and manages the People’s Choice votes. She encourages attendees to walk around the exhibit and admire the seemingly endless amount of artwork. This year’s exhibit boasts several unique pieces, Roof said, including a replica of a Canadian goose made entirely out of pinecones and a table made from crates that was built by a 10-year old contestant.
“I love this job because there are so many super neat things that come in,” she said.
Roof submitted her own work to the contest as well: a hand-stitched plastic tote made entirely out of a bag of bird seeds. The three-hour project required Roof to meticulously cut the seed bag, sew its bottoms and then fold up the sides to create durable handles. Chicken feed bags are the best material for the project, Roof said, but she often has birdseed bags lying around for her feathered friends.
“I started off with not many birds, most of them house sparrows,” she said. “I think they told all of their friends or cousins or everybody, because now I got lots of them.”
In her spare time, Roof likes to work on nature- and animal-inspired color pencil drawings. She starts several sketching projects, but oftentimes doesn’t finish them in time for the fair deadline. Instead, Roof prefers to spend her energy helping 4-H members with their fair projects.
“I’ve started a few things but I don’t ever finish,” she said. “Life has gotten in the way a lot of the time. I’m helping 4-H members with their projects; that’s more important than getting mine done. They’re learning and I want them to succeed.”
