Ten-year-old Esther Potoczek of Tallmadge could barely contain her excitement as she recounted her experience at the 2023 Portage County Randolph Fair.
“I entered a quilt and I got a blue ribbon! I made a potholder and I got red! And then I had plastic beads and I got a red!” she said.
Fair days are a family tradition for the Bell-Ellerhorst-Potoczek family. All told, grandmother Pam Bell of Garrettsville submitted 56 of her own, her daughters’ and her grandchildren’s paintings, drawings, crafts and quilts for judging, and a whopping 50 of them were ribbon winners.
“We’re just a painting and crafting family, and quilting,” Bell laughed.
Esther was only 5 when her grandmother submitted her first picture to the fair: an owl that ended up winning a grand champion ribbon for her age group.
This year’s entries included a rock ’n roll-themed quilt she made with Bell and a picture of a bird that Esther remembered seeing on a plate. Imagine her surprise when the drawing earned both a blue ribbon and best of show for her age group.
“I was a bit confused and very excited,” Esther said. “I never knew you could get two ribbons for one piece. I thought my grandmother sent them to two fairs!”
She said she’ll display her ribbons on a bulletin board in her room. The pictures, along with too many other ribbon winners to count, plaster the walls of the family’s downstairs craft room.
Fresh from this year’s fair, Esther is already thinking about next year. She’s got high hopes for a picture that features flowers, butterflies and a bee.
Esther’s 8-year-old brother Boden is not about to be left behind. He made his drawings and paintings when he was 7 and ended up with three blue ribbons — which is great, he said, because “blue is my favorite color!”
“I can’t even remember that time! My sister said I went bananas!” Boden said.
Like his sister, Boden has his sights set on next year’s fair, when he hopes to enter as much as he can to win a teal (honorable mention) ribbon. Teal, he said, “looks cool.”
Bell’s first foray into friendly fair competition was working the baked goods section at the Crawford County Fair in Pennsylvania. She was a little girl just enjoying spending time with her grandmother.
Bell soon started seeking ribbons herself: best of show and blue ribbons for her artwork and sewing projects. She joined 4-H and rose to become a junior leader of her group. After moving to Portage County when she was 12, she remained active in a 4-H sewing group based in Shalersville.
Though the allure of high school activities led to Bell leaving 4-H, she said she still entered the occasional piece of artwork at the Portage County Randolph Fair.
She still does. This year Bell submitted a wall hanging, which won a red ribbon, and a quilted tablecloth, which won a blue.
“I have quilted all my life, and I have entered I don’t know how many into the fair, and I have won all kinds of prizes,” she said.
Bell encouraged her daughters, now Lydia Ellerhorst of Garrettsville, Christina Bell of Mantua Township and Dayna Potoczek of Tallmadge, to enter their handiwork when they reached middle and high school, paving the way for their children — Bell’s grandchildren — to do so as well.
“My 4-year-old grandson Keith Ellorhorst was 2 when he entered his first painting into the county fair,” she recalled. “I think he got a blue ribbon.”
Look out for next year, when all manner of artwork and crafts are sure to be displayed once again at the 2024 Portage County Randolph Fair. Look for the names — and ribbons — next to entries Bell submits for her children and grandchildren, including Jack Ellerhorst, 10; Van Ellerhorst, 8; and Mark Ellerhorst, 6.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.