This year, over 100 of the state’s finest tomatoes, spices, flowers and more were grown in Salem soil.
Salem gardeners took home 109 blue first-place ribbons in the Oregon State Fair’s Agriculture & Horticulture category, which includes gardening and beekeeping. Locals also took home 76 second-place awards and 41 third-place awards.
Among this year’s winners is Emma Black, age 5, who took home six first-place awards in the youth Farm & Garden category.
Emma is no stranger to victory. Last year, Salem Reporter shared her 10 first-place wins for gardening, and spoke with several other Salem gardeners who netted multiple first-place wins again this year.
Emma’s mom, Kristina Eidsmoe, said the wins took almost daily visits to tend their front yard garden, and their plot in the Santana Village community garden in Four Corners.
Emma won first place for her cucumbers, summer squash, winter squash, large and small tomatoes and flowers. Her pumpkin, dahlias and gladiolus won second place, and she also netted three third-place ribbons.
Emma Black’s first-place award winning tomatoes at the 2025 Oregon State Fair. (HAILEY COOK/ Salem Reporter)
Emma was also recognized for her tie-dye skills in the crafts division. The family wore matching shirts to visit her prize-winning vegetables, housed among other statewide winners in the Agriculture & Horticulture competition. They’ll be on display through the end of the state fair on Sept. 1.
“It’s kind of fun for her to go in and she’s like: ‘That’s mine, and that’s mine, and that’s mine.’ So it’s like a scavenger hunt,” Eidsmoe said.
Their gardening involved some trial and error. They successfully grew eggplants for the first time, but Emma opted not to enter them.
And what Emma was most excited to enter – a Big Max pumpkin which can reach over 100 pounds – proved elusive.
“It turned into a failure. It was like the size of a softball,” Eidsmoe said, and laughed. “She was excited to try to grow something that was going to turn out huge, but we’re just not apparently Big Max growers.”
But Eidsmoe considers the gardening time well spent.
“It’s just something me and her do, spend time together,” she said. “She likes to play in the dirt.”
See some of Salem’s prize winners below, along with a full list of this year’s local winners.
Award winning vegetables, including dozens grown in Salem, will be on display at the Oregon State fair through Sept. 1. (HAILEY COOK/ Salem Reporter)
One of Emma Black’s blue-ribbon winning flowers at the 2025 Oregon State Fair. (HAILEY COOK/ Salem Reporter)
Kristina Eidsmoe grew several prize-winning vegetables in her family’s box at the Santana Village community garden in Four Corners. (HAILEY COOK/ Salem Reporter)
Xander Orr’s sunflower was the tallest among the youth gardener category at the 2025 Oregon State Fair. (HAILEY COOK/ Salem Reporter)
A colorful spread of the top peppers in the state of Oregon, according to this year’s fair judges. (HAILEY COOK/ Salem Reporter)
Salem gardeners grew many of the top prize-winning flowers at the Oregon State Fair this year. (HAILEY COOK/ Salem Reporter)
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
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