Entries for the Porter County Fair’s Open Class Home Economic exhibits will be accepted at the door this Sunday, July 15 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Exhibit area of the Expo East building located the county fairgrounds.

The five categories for this year’s home economic exhibits include Arts & Crafts (Special Occasion, Ceramics, Dolls, Photography, Toys, Woodworking, Painting, Basket Weaving, Wearable Art, Jewelry, Scrapbooking, Handmade Crafts, Miscellaneous Crafts, Professional Arts and Crafts); Clothing Construction (Children’s Wear, Men’s Wear, Women’s Wear, Professional Clothing Construction); Food (Cakes, Yeast Breads, Quick Breads, Cookies, Candy, Pies, Professional Food); Food Preservation/Canning (Fruits, Fruit Sauces, Vegetables, Jams and Preserves, Jellies, Pickles, Relishes, Sauces, Salsa, Other) and Needlecraft (Embroidery, Quilts and Comforters, Knitting, Crocheting, Needlepoint and Quickpoint, Counted Thread Work, Miscellaneous Threadcraft, Professional Threadcraft).

Foods and Food Preservations will be entered on Thursday, July 19, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Registration forms can be found on the Fair’s website, www.portercofair.org under Open Class.

Registering can be done at the door on July 15 or pre-register by e-mailing Superintendent Pat Ralph at mpralph@comcast.net.

The exhibits are open to all adults over 18 and not participating in 4-H. A professional is one who earns $1,000 or more annually selling a product and/or teaching that technique which is exhibited in Open Class, and must enter the designated professional sections.

Entries must be made by the exhibitor and completed since Sept.1, 2011. All exhibits must not have been exhibited in previous Porter County Fairs.

Exhibitors can enter only one item per class in each section, up to as many sections as desired. For example, you may enter 101a, 101b, 101c, etc. Entries must be placed in the appropriate category. Miscellaneous categories are specifically for items not previously designated in the section.

Judging will not be open to the public. The exhibits may be viewed after Food judging on July 19th. Exhibits are mixed within departments to make best use of space and to create a more interesting display.

For Painting or Drawing, all pictures must be completely finished, framed and ready to hang.

For Photography: The photographs shall be not less than 8” x 10”, nor more than 16” x 20”overall. They may be matted or mounted on self-adhesive photo board, and no frames. Nudes are not acceptable.

No items may be tagged for sale or bear advertising.

All exhibits must remain in place until Exhibit Release on Saturday, July 28, from 8-10 p.m. or Sunday, July 29 from 9-11 a.m.

No entry fee is assessed in any department. Ribbons and premiums will be awarded for the first five placings as deemed worthy by the judge. Judges shall not award prizes to unworthy exhibits.

Premiums are as follows for all departments: 1st Place ($5 plus ribbon); 2nd Place ($4 plus ribbon); 3rd Place ($3 plus ribbon); 4th Place ($2 plus ribbon); 5th Place ($1 plus ribbon).

The Porter County Fairgrounds are located at 215 Division Road (on the northeast corner of Ind. 49). The Fair runs July 19-28.

Posted 7/13/2012