I will never *not* enter the MN state fair again

(skip to the bottom, if you want to know why i'll keep entering the fair, despite thier displays)

After the post the other day, I thought I would...come back to discuss the fair some more, as I feel it got poorly represented in the other post and my attempts to explain got lost in the comments.

I took a handful of photos while there yesterday, showing that not all quilts are displayed with a ton of things in front of them. some are draped on stools/platforms, some are flat on the floor (in a non-walkable area) and some are on racks. its unfortunate that some are used as backdrops, but it just...is that way.

(there was one I was really truly sad to see how it was displayed, the arrangers are not perfect!)

I love the creative activities building at the fair. it is MY FAVORITE place in the whole dang fair. BUT.

IT IS NOT A QUILT SHOW. its not a garment show. its not a knitting or beading or anything show. its a display and **celebration** of **ALL** the creative activites we do in MN. It is one building for everything handmade and craft. It is NOT the place to enter if you want to absolutly ensure as many people see \*YOUR\* project specifically as possible. there are far better venues for that. this is for fun. for the experience of getting a quilt judged. its a GREAT place for your first foray into the judged show world. (be warned though, not every quilt at the fair gets a judge card! theres just too many!)

I did math. there were 7,480 objects submitted to all of the various Creative Activities competions. SEVEN THOUSAND over hundreds of categories. 3,390 of these are displayed in the handcrafts section from wood carving and painting, to fiber arts like quilting and garments. (the rest is canning/baking, which does have thier own area within the building.) why are all of you who objected in the other thread thinking that ONE quilt is far more important than the work of all the other craftspeople who entered the fair? With THREE THOUSAND objects of varying display needs all needing a space there is no way to seperate things out and give them all space they deserve. zero. none. that building is stuffed full. I do not envy the arrangers one bit thier job, and think they do quite well within the limitations they are working with.

I do wish they'd stop using the big T pins to pin up the quilts, but honestly, we do far worse when making the quilts. at least I do. I'm rough on my quilts. they will heal, its just fabric.

And to make this even longer: WHY I WILL CONTINUE ENTERING THE FAIR.

it makes handcrafts accesible to the everyday person. its local. its imperfect. the fair humanizes all the crafts, it shows what your neighbor is making and doing rather than a nebulous "professional". its not keeping quilting behind shiny quilt show walls that the non quilter would be too intimidated to go to. its the everyday quilts. the ones you make for your loved ones. Maybe that horse girl who wanders in while taking a break from showing sees a quilt/knit/carving/whatever and goes..i want to make that. If we stop entering quilts in fairs and only show our work at specialized shows, the craft WILL NOT GROW. we need these lower-tier display events open to the masses.

and for those of you posting in the other post to contact the state fair boards/staff/media. stop. THEY KNOW. this is THE MOST MEDIA COVERED event in the state.

I'll be around to answer any questions over the next day or so :P

EDIT: I do want to make it completly clear that the other poster is 100% valid in being disappointed in how thier quilt was displayed. I made this post more so that everyone who was posting about how awful the state fair displays in general were could understand that not all of the displays are that way. its unfortunate that some have to be, for sure.

edit 2: I'd love to hear more about other people's state and county fairs! I've been to a couple outside if MN, but it's incredibly fascinating to me!