Competitions at the Alabama National Fair
Rain may have cut into fair attendance Saturday,but there were indoor activities to enjoy.
Women were staying dry indoors, showing off their skills in variety of creative competitions in cooking and quilting.
The cooks were preparing what they hope will be winning dishes.
“What I have are little muffin brownie bites. I always enter. It’s been like 10 years for me. It’s fun, we always have a good time out here,” says Nicole Penn.
“We are cooking with Alaga syrup and Whitfield products and we are doing appetizers. I have come up with a smoked oyster bloody mary shooter with a grilled cheese,” says Tiff Smith.
Former winners of the cooking competition come back each year.
“That’s why we come back to win,” says Penn.
Some say winning is all about stepping outside the box with their favorite recipes
“I think it’s very unusual. I love to just look for recipes and I saw this as a appetizer at a wedding and I duplicated it,” says Smith.
The contestants prepared appetizers and finger foods on Saturday, using Alaga syrup and Whitfield prod are judged on taste, originality and presentation.
“Some people win a lot of prizes because they enter a lot of contests and some people may have one prize because that’s all they entered. But they are just as excited as the one’s that win a lot,” says Ann Ball, director of Creative Living.
Just like the dishes, judges are also looking for winning quilts.
“They’re judged on whether they are hand stitched, machine stitched, the special stitches that they have-the complexity of them,” says Ball.
People participating say, these competitions are the more relaxing part of the Alabama National Fair.
“It’s a broad range and it’s fun to do,” says Penn.
Saturday’s cooking participants competed for prize money up to a hundred dollars along with ribbons and baskets.
Monday is Alabama News Network’s day at the fair. Be sure to come out and join us!
