The Lake County Fair Flower Show is something that Fair Board Vice President Joe Slansky has enjoyed being involved in for more than 25 years.
The Lake County Fair runs from July 22 – 27 at 1301 Mentor Ave. in Painesville. (Marah Morrison — The News-Herald)
Slansky has handled the flower department since being on the fair board. He doesn’t claim to be a florist by any means, but through the flower show, Slansky said he learns something new every year.
Originally, the flower show was hosted in the log cabin at the fairgrounds, one of the oldest buildings on the grounds.
“We converted that to our historical building, which made sense, and that’s how we ended up sharing the building with agriculture and the school,” Slansky said. “They tie together.”
There were between 100 and 200 entries in this year’s flower show. The first show was placed on display on July 21 and was judged on the morning of the fair’s opening day, July 22. The fair runs through July 27 at the fairgrounds in Painesville Township.
From youth divisions to garden clubs, the Lake County Fair Flower Show attracts a wide variety of entries. (Marah Morrison — The News-Herald)
From youth divisions to garden clubs, the Lake County Fair Flower Show attracts a wide variety of entries. (Marah Morrison — The News-Herald)
From youth divisions to garden clubs, the Lake County Fair Flower Show attracts a wide variety of entries. (Marah Morrison — The News-Herald)
From youth divisions to garden clubs, the Lake County Fair Flower Show attracts a wide variety of entries. (Marah Morrison — The News-Herald)
From youth divisions to garden clubs, the Lake County Fair Flower Show attracts a wide variety of entries. (Marah Morrison — The News-Herald)
From youth divisions to garden clubs, the Lake County Fair Flower Show attracts a wide variety of entries. (Marah Morrison — The News-Herald)
From youth divisions to garden clubs, the Lake County Fair Flower Show attracts a wide variety of entries. (Marah Morrison — The News-Herald)
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From youth divisions to garden clubs, the Lake County Fair Flower Show attracts a wide variety of entries. (Marah Morrison — The News-Herald)
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“We have a wide variety of entrees from youth divisions to garden clubs as a whole host of different classes for each type of flower arrangements to specific flowers,” Slansky said.
The second show was put on display on July 24 and was judged on Friday morning.
“There are some that only are one-day show or a one-fair show, so they’ll come in Monday and stay for the whole week,” Slansky said. “Not all change, but a lot of specimen flowers, since they’re in a small vase and single stem, don’t last long. That’s why we do a second show so we still have a fresh-looking display for anybody who comes later in the week.”
While the show seems to be more of an older generation type of activity, the younger generation is coming in and will hopefully keep the display going for years to come, Slansky said.
“Every year, we try and do different things to get more people involved in it,” he said. “I do have a few growers or people who display who bring in a wide variety from dahlias to roses, so there are key people who come in and do a nice job to make sure we have a nice display.”
A theme is also chosen annually for the flower show that will go along with the fair.
“We build our books and classes around that, and then people will make that display or arrangement to mimic what the theme is,” Slansky said. “It’s the same with the specimens. There’s directions telling them what we’re looking for whether it’s a single stem or three stem and what color. There’s every type of rose in here and some new stuff that sometimes the judges say, ‘We’ve never even seen that.’ You can mix different things together. and come up with different products.”
When people visit the show, Slansky enjoys seeing the looks on their faces and they realize they are able to do this at home, he said.
“It’s a learning experience,” he said. “My building sitters — I love to work with them. I’ve got a good group that is good at talking with the community and working with people passing through here. I enjoy stuff like that overall.”
People getting interested in agriculture is important as society is based on it, Slansky said.
“You need all this for everything,” he said. “We try to reinvent and get more in tune with the times every year. We try to make it a wide variety so anybody can spark an interest.”
For the last couple of years, the fair has joined up with the Lake Metroparks to get kids involved in the show.
“We have a marigold display,” Slansky said. “They pass out thousands of seeds to kids who have field trips from different schools throughout the area and they can get their hands in the dirt, plant the seed and watch it grow. We opened up a class and run that separate off of our regular show.”