By Lindsey Rowland
lrowland@wbcowqel.com
Seventy-five years ago, one of the most beloved films in history hit the big screen and “The Wizard of Oz” has been celebrated ever since. To join in the embracing of this beloved masterpiece, the Crawford County Fair flower show adopted the theme “75 Years of Following the Yellow Brick Road”.
Members of local garden clubs entered the competition, which featured theme appropriate categories such as “The Scarecrow”, “The Tinman”, and “Professor Marvel”, among others that asked entrants to do such things as incorporate metal and a ready to hang wall design.
Judging took place on Wednesday afternoon and the results are as follows:
Wizard of Oz section winner-Michael Hoepf
Scarecrow section winner-Michael Hoepf
Tinman section winner- Trisha Goldfuss
Glinda section winner-Michael Hoepf
Professor Marvel section winner-Gebhardt
Emerald City section winner-Earth, Wind, and Flowers Garden Club
Veggie sculpture winner- Abi Chester
No Pace Like Home section winner-Petal Pushers Garden Club
Veggie Friends section winner-Abi Chester
Lions, Tigers, and Bears…Oh My! section winner-Brooke Slage
Michael Hoepf took home a blue ribbon in three categories and also brought some of his own grown flowers to the show and, as a member of Petal Pushers Garden Club, is really passionate about getting people involved in the show that means so much to him.
“If anyone is interested…we would be happy to invite you to our next meeting,” Hoepf said, “I have been growing and showing for over thirty years at the fair. I enjoy doing horticultural things. I was raised on a farm and this is my farming.
When asked what the show gives to fairgoers, Hoepf said, “It gives the community a chance to see the new varieties and see the names of the varieties because to exhibit and win a ribbon, it has to be a named variety. Anyone can come and enjoy the fair and bring their best specimens or or any specimen and enter the show…you have to have a membership but you can bring and enter the garden show and we would be glad to have you.”
The flower arrangements will be on display for the rest of the week in the flower building at the Crawford County Fairgrounds.