August 12, 2004

Down at the Greene County Fair

Austin Bailey, a member of the 4-H Husky Hustlers, with his steer Nightmare at the Greene County Fair last week.

By Bill Felker

The first part of the Greene County Fair week was hot and muggy, and the air was heavy with the scent of deep-fried Snickers and Twinkies, Philly steak, fried cheese, onion blossoms, corn dogs and sugar waffles.

After a crowded start on Sunday, attendance slacked a little at midweek. Numbers at the religious and political booths were down, but Yellow Springs candidates for public office, Kara Anastasio and Michael Gardner, were still out shaking hands.

And showing and judging went on in the livestock barns as though the whole world was watching. Perhaps it was — families filled the bleachers to see the children and their animals.

The popularity of the 4-H and FFA competitions made sense to Gardner, who is running for Greene County commissioner. “When you take away the Wright-Patt-related industries,” he said, referring to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, “agriculture is the second largest industry in Greene County.”

Although Yellow Springs fair entries may not have been as numerous as those from some of the other villages, a casual walk throughout the stalls and displays featured a wide variety of projects submitted by local residents.

In the Mercantile Building, Kristen Semler’s freestyle poetry spoke sensitively about the challenges of the war in Iraq. In the sewing section, a matching denim skirt and purse by Laurel Amstutz sported the embroidered logo of the Husky Hustlers. Not far away hung a silky, long skirt by Mary Lewis.

In the poultry barn, Mary’s fancy chickens did Yellow Springs proud, and the elegant peacocks raised by Drew Amstutz were strutting back and forth, the only peacocks at the fair.

Megan Hammond’s lop-eared rabbits, three bucks and a doe, were sleek and beautiful. “It’s fun to raise them,” she said. “Rabbits are cool.”

And the Yellow Springs hogs did well.

“The Fultons had a great day,” said Jake Fulton. “Me, my brother, six of my cousins, all entered hogs. It was the best bunch — 16 altogether — we’ve had in quite a few years.”

Even though Jake’s entry didn’t place, more than half of the hogs entered by his relatives did extremely well, and Jake was clearly happy with the outcome.

“It was a great day for the family!” he said.

Over half a dozen Yellow Springs 4-H members brought larger animals to the fair. Sixth-grader Austin Bailey had two steers in competition, and he was looking forward to the proceeds of the market beef sale.

While most students his age are not beginning to think about getting a job, Austin has already put away a sizeable sum for his future. His entries weigh over a thousand pounds each and bring at least that many dollars per steer.

“I’ll put most of the money I get into savings,” he said. “But I’ll keep a little out for spending.”

Although the returns on this kind of 4-H project are high, raising steers more than 10 times the size of a sixth-grader can be dangerous.

“I’ve had my foot stepped on,” Austin said. “Another time, one stepped on my toe.”

“And I’ve been kicked,” he added, pointing to his leg.

Few village adults participate

There were relatively few items from Yellow Springs adults in the fair. Gone are the days when abundant flower arrangements and specimens from the Friendly Gardeners earned blue ribbons for their club. (The members of the club still have an annual flower show elsewhere, said the club’s president, Tia Houston.)

Nevertheless, eggs submitted by Dale Amstutz and an apple pie by his wife, Jan, represented the village well in those divisions, and Corinne Whitesell had more of her work on display than any other Yellow Springs resident.

Whitesell, who first entered her weaving at the Greene County Fair two years ago, had seven items in competition this year: a quilt, prepared in a log-cabin pattern and arranged in a pinwheel design, a tapestry, a hand-spun lap throw, knitted slippers, a novelty potholder (“I got a second place for that,” she said, “but I noticed that there wasn’t a first!”), a handbag, and hand towels (“At first, the judge didn’t believe they were hand-woven,” Whitesell said.).

Whitesell said the handbag design was inspired by Kente weavers from Ghana with whom she had taken a workshop when she was living, “of all places, in Alaska.”

Currently the treasurer for the Weavers’ Guild of the Miami Valley, Whitesell has published articles on her craft for The Web, a New Zealand magazine, and in several regional weavers association publications in the United States. A former classical musician, she teaches weaving in the Learning and Retirement Program at the University of Dayton.

Whitesell moved here in 1964, but her interest in weaving did not begin until she left with her family for New Zealand in the early 1970s.

“The houses are not heated there, and I started making sweaters for my husband and my five children and for everybody I knew back home,” she said. “Then a neighbor said, ‘Wouldn’t you like to learn to weave?’ And later, ‘Wouldn’t you like to know how to spin?’ ”

By the time she returned to Yellow Springs years later, Whitesell was ready to open her own shop downtown, Yellow Springs Strings.

Continuing to practice her craft even as her eyesight is starting to fade (“I can do most of this by color and touch,” she said), Whitesell weaves up to two hours a day, “but it’s a lot more when I’m working on a project,” she said. “Or in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep.”

And like most mature artists, she articulates a larger context for her practice. Developed first as a way of finding a larger purpose for her classical music, Whitesell’s philosophy fits with her more recent love of weaving.

“Mankind is created in the image of God,” she said. “God is a creator, and I am a creator, and when I’m creating, I’m exercising the image of God.”