By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
For more than 140 years at the Wood County Fair, people have been showing off their prowess at baking and sewing. The skills exhibited were once a way of life, a necessity. Now, they are uncommon –and draw “oooohs” and “aaaaahs” from those who have never stitched up a bodice or never baked up a rhubarb pie.
Judy Arps and her daughter, Janeen Shipp, both of Haskins, were admiring the quilting entries Wednesday at the fair when asked if either of them bake or sew.
Arps cracked a smile, and Shipp rolled her eyes.
“We had to learn it out of necessity growing up,” said Arps, who learned to sew from her mom. “If I wanted more than one dress, I had to sew it.”
Arps became so skilled that she sewed her prom dress and her wedding dress. She is now passing on those skills to her granddaughter.
Arps also excels in the kitchen, specializing in baking bread and the secret family recipe for coffee cake.
Canning entries
“She taught me how to can,” Shipp said. That was also a necessity when Arps was growing up. Shipp has carried on the tradition, canning jams, fruits, green beans, tomatoes, red beets and pickles. “If you can put it in a can, you can can it,” Shipp said, echoing her mom’s words to her.
Cooking is a different issue, one that Arps admits she lets slide some days. “I can go get a sandwich faster than I can turn the oven on.”
Denise Waterfield, of Grand Rapids, also learned her sewing skills at an early age – though not from her mom.
“I have a picture of when I was 9 years old, sitting on the couch opening an embroidery kit for Christmas,” Waterfield said. She was hooked.
“My grandmothers were seamstresses, knitters and milliners. I think it’s in the genes.”
Waterfield walked through the display cases at the fair pointing out her handful of ribbons earned for embroidery, lace work, quilting, sewing a stuffed animal and a coin purse.
The secret, she said, is patience. That’s something she knows a lot about, since during the school year Waterfield is a bus driver for Bowling Green City Schools.
Betty Whitacre, of Bowling Green, said she’s too short on patience to handquilt, but she loves quilting by machine.
“My mom used to quilt at the church in Custar,” Whitacre said. The ladies there did it by hand. “That’s a talent of its own.”
Whitacre finds sewing relaxing, and just made a nightgown. But it’s no longer a money-saving task to make your own clothing. “You can go to the store and you can buy three tops,” for the price of the pattern and material nowadays. And it’s much more convenient to go the shopping route. “Moms are so busy,” she said.
Homemade clothing displayed
The exhibit building is loaded with hand-sewn clothing, quilts and knitted sweaters. The baking entries boast homemade bread, spice cookies, cinnamon rolls, brownies, muffins and cupcakes. The canning shelves are teeming with salsa, jellies, corn relish, chutney, applesauce, beets, yellow wax beans, applebutter and pie fillings.
To the wonder of cooking novices, there is even a section of homemade noodles.
Whitacre has taken second place with her banana bread, and won best of show one year for her caramel apple pie.
“I’d rather bake than cook,” she said. “I like to eat it.”
“My mom used to make cinnamon rolls. When I got off the bus, they were there warm,” Whitacre remembered. “I’m just kind of following in her footsteps.”
Now Whitacre is passing on the tradition, creating memories of chocolate chip and sugar cookies with her grandchildren. For about 10 years, she was leader of the Butter and Buttons 4-H Club, where she passed down the skills to several youngsters.
Muffin entries in display case
Down the display cases, Natalee Harris, 9, of Bowling Green, was showing off her winning chocolate chip muffin to her family.
Natalee and her brother, Nathan, 12, are both learning to quilt.
Grandma Linda Harris made baby quilts for them, then passed on the skills to her daughter, Kristy. “I’m not one to sit and watch TV. I like to do things. I like to create things,” Kristy Harris said.
“I think it’s great. Some of the young kids don’t know how to do it,” Linda Harris said.
Other buildings at the fair are teeming with lost arts – skills that were once common place. The woodworking projects show polished furniture, bowls, a clock case and music stand.
Home grown produce exhibit at the fair
And the produce exhibits are the result of remarkable green thumbs, growing giant cabbages, colorful gourds, fuzzy peaches and so much more. Visitors who never get closer to homegrown fruit and vegetables than a trip to a farmers’ market may marvel at the healthy harvest.
