Fair flower-arranging competition appeals to artists of all ages

Staff photo by Nick Daggy Bette Jungeberg (left) and Kaitlyn Smith both won Best of Show for their flower arrangements Wednesday, July 28, at the Butler County Fair.

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Staff photo by Nick Daggy Roxane Beckett and Geri Ehresman check out gladioli Monday, July 26, at the Butler County Fair.

Fair flower-arranging competition appeals to artists of all ages

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer Updated 8:24 AM Thursday, July 29, 2010

HAMILTON — Kaitlyn Smith’s budding interest in flower arrangement pretty much started from birth, when she watched her great-aunt nurture, grow and create her own arrangements.

By the age of 10, it had bloomed into a full-on love affair.

“I think it is really fun to do. You get to watch them grow and learn all their names,” Smith said as she fingered the soft yellow day lilies included in her display at the Butler County Fair.

Smith, who lives in Oxford, received the Best of Show ribbon for her basket display in the Division 6 Junior Artistic Designs in the “A Picnic with Flowers” display at the Butler County Fair. This is the first year for the junior competition.

Friends and family helped Smith and her cousins gather materials for their entry. Smith said it took her several days to develop her arrangement, which included three day-lily blooms, hosta leaves, cattails and iris foliage from her great-aunt Pam Singleton’s garden.

Darius Goins, 11, of Hamilton, also received a first-place ribbon for his “Playing in the Creek” class of the junior competition. He fancifully arranged moss, driftwood, river weeds, bamboo and daisies to resemble a day of fishing. It was his first ribbon ever in a fair competition.

“I am definitely going to enter next year,” he said.

It was that first Best of Show ribbon earned by Bette Jungeberg in 2004 that had her continually turning to her garden for inspiration.

Now in 2010, the 64-year-old Liberty Twp. resident has won her second Best of Show ribbon for her basket arrangement.

The key, she said, is to look for beauty and place each flower one at a time.

There were more than 1,176 flower entries at the fair this year.

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