By the time judging was completed in mid-September, more than 10,000 Texans had entered this year’s State Fair Creative Arts competition.
And hundreds of the entrants – winners – came from residents of our Lake Highlands, East Dallas and Lakewood neighborhoods.
Anyone who has attended the State Fair has visited the Creative Arts Building. After all, who can resist peeking at a cucumber that looks like Elvis, or eyeing the state’s best blueberry pie recipe. This is what the Creative Arts competition is all about – excellence in categories that make up in creativity what they lack in excitement.
This story highlights three neighborhood winners, and it is followed by a listing of other neighbors who took home ribbons from this year’s State Fair.
Congratulations from the Advocate to our neighborhood Fair winners. And special thanks to Nancy Wiley and Lisa Taylor of the State Fair staff for helping compile these listings.
A life in the theater and a passion for blue-ribbon-winning canned plums may seem like instant culture clash for some. Neighborhood resident and longtime Dallas casting agent Joy Wyse, however, takes equal joy in both pursuits.
Wyse recently retired after 21 years as a talent agent, although she still casts productions and speaks at acting schools. She also won a dozen ribbons in this year’s State Fair food and crafts divisions.
“I’ll tell you how it happened,” Wyse says. “About 10 years ago, my husband Don (a motivational speaker and actor who has appeared at the State Fair Music Hall) and I were looking for a different way to celebrate our anniversary in October.
“We didn’t want to go to the theater or a movie because that’s our business. That would be like working. We started going to the Fair.”
Don Wyse ran a football toss concession at the Fair until four years ago, and Joy Wyse began entering crafts competitions. She took first prize this year for her plums, cherries and new potatoes.
Her grandson, Travis Kindred, will model her Pinnochio costume during the sewing competition, and she will bake her 1991 best-of-show peanut butter cake in the demonstration kitchen.
The Wyse family might have won even more ribbons this year if not for a near-tragic accident. A car struck daughters Donna and Pam outside the Farmer’s Market as they shopped for last-minute food items to complete their canning.
Donna suffered a broken leg but still managed to enter six items. Paula (Travis’ mother), also on crutches, missed the competition entirely.
Joy Wyse says her daughters push her to excel at the Fair, and she’s looking forward to their return during the cooking events.
“I’m a Fair fanatic,” she says.
In the meantime, Wyse says, “I’ve gotta know – what happened with my pomegranate jelly?”
Neighborhood resident Walter Robertson examined plenty of photographs during his 40 years at the Dallas Morning News. He served 25 years as sports editor and executive sports editor.
But until he retired several years ago, Robertson hadn’t considered taking his own pictures. This year, his black and white photo of four gulls on the North Carolina coast, entitled “Eyes Left,” won a first prize at the State Fair.
“One of the gulls looked like a drill sergeant giving orders to the other gulls, who were lined up looking at him,” Robertson says.
“Anybody can take pictures. I still have an awful lot to learn about the technology. Having worked closely with photographers, I did think I had a sense of composition. Cropping (framing the picture) is the secret,” he says.
Encouraged by his success at the Fair, he’s ready to get serious about photography. Robertson plans to set up a dark room in his house.
Each summer, neighborhood resident Mari Madison builds a collection around one treasured family heirloom. When she has the required five items, she enters them in the State Fair antiques competition.
This year, her third at the Fair, she built a collection around her grandmother’s Watkins Flavorings and Seasonings cookbook. She added other entries in antique valentines and Christmas cards, wooden boxes, toys and copper items.
Madison, who works as an art director at an advertising agency, won three blue ribbons and six ribbons overall.
Her first year, Madison entered a hand-beaded Barbie doll wedding dress. Competing at the Fair is “something I wanted to do when I was a little girl. I discovered the Women’s Building and spent three hours there,” she says.
Neighborhood Fair Winners
Division A – Art
Karen Hill, Gloria Moody, Anna-Lesa Calvert, Eva Judge, Judith Bair, Bonnie Johnston, Lezlie Johnston, Jane Lilly, Bryan Fail, Ken Kondo, Aimee Kondo, Christine Fail, Meredith Stohner, Justin Stohner, Andy Schmitt, Richard King, John Jarrett, David Hill, Thomas King, Henry Martinez, Scott Martinez, Jay Mack King, Julian Calabrim, Emily Manes, Gavin Manes, Anne Andrews, Derek Didear, Rita Ann Classe, Joseph Classe, Roy Moskop, Jay Voltmann.
Division B – Ceramics
Eva Judge, Martha Herron, Susan Heliker, Claudia Gay, Ruth Rollins, T.K. Smith, Lee Hirsh, Jeanne Gay, Cynthia Gay, Keista Blakeley, Joan Green, Ramona Honan, Ginger Cameron, Genevieve Toliver.
Division C – Designer/Craftsman
Hugh Jefferson, Robin Nazariroodaki, Garrett Boone, Katherine Boone, Guthrie Boone, Jack Hunter, Cynthia Repasky, Roger Francis, Frances Scarfone, Nancy B. Hayes, Gavin Manes, Emily Manes, Jeanette M. Mull, Eva Judge, Hertha Buske, Jack Bates, Ann Bennett, Martine Frezard, Pier Larsen, Chloe E. Nelson, Star Hollis, Pauline Reyna, Michelle Loftis, Dan Catania, Matalee Redus, Anneliese Carber, S. Brooks Gremmels, Dr. Barton Jones, Karen Leavell, Estella Coleman.
Division D – Dolls
Debra Berry, Angie Drake.
Division E – Foods
Lynn Johnson, Peggy Jones, Rick Martin, Vickie Medlin, Lynda Sanders, Allen W. Scott, June K. Switzer, Rachelle Vaughan, Antessa Walters, Joy Wyse.
Division G – Hobby Collections
Mari Madison, Mrs. B.T. Talbot, Teresa Goforth, Shirely McElya, Libby Voltman, Foster Martinez, Gay Montero, Kay Mann, Richard Mann, John Quick, Ellen Bonner, MK Choate, M.F. Coerver, Dorothy Judge, Eva Judge, Marian James, JoAnn Haye, Bonny Wise, Ian Pierce, Anita Rogers, William Hamelman.
Division H – Holiday Corner
Barbara Young, Carol Pliler, Ramona Honan, Beth Miller, Ermine Heckman, Martha Gasseson, Joy Wyse, Annelise Carber, Elvena Shipman, Betty Goheen, Helen Khoury-Ashmore, Evelyn Palmer, Julia Sandlin, Lynda Sanders, Elaine Patterson, Ann Bennett, Fred Gardner, Mari Madison, Edna Butler, Sharron McCormick.
Division I – Needlepoint…
Kristin Abbey, Maureen Bowman, Donna Corti, Glenda Foote, April Kinkle, Ruth Hussing, Judy L. Killion, Jo McPherson, Myet Mardi, Li Moe Heli Nelson, Lori C. Nevil, Camille Riggs, Pamela S. Stewart, Jodi Swick.
Division J – Needlework and Sewing
Anita Rogers, Dorothy Cheatham, Susie Winton, Kathryn Oliver, Marjorie Saunders, Joyce M. Ellis, Judith A. Bair, Jill Anderson, Karin Carber, Diane Swick, Betty Sellers, Sally Marable, Ann Trees, Anita Palacios, Irene Cerny, Shirley Arnett, Evelyn McCormick, Nora Puentes, Kristen Abbey, Anna Ray, Mary Grace Ray.
Division K – Quilts, Rugs, Bedspreads, Afghans
Vena Campbell, Nancy Armstrong, Louise Moore, Leta Kreminski, Alice Kofahl, Jack Brockette, Anne Boecher, Minnie Minton, Patricia Brunner, Frances Richards, Willene Williams, Marie Solberg, Evelyn McCormick, Dedra Blackmore.
Division L – Photography
Ginny Anderson, Averil Tyler Crain, Ramona Popplewell, Lee Popplewell, Linda Lux, Walter Robertson, Donna Sue Smith, Khoury Cline, Ester Allison, Mary Lou Billimek, Melissa Martin, Bill Klotz, Joyce Bullock, JM Landwermeyer, Yvonne Tiedtke, Sandra Hitz, John Hitz, Dan Ross, Judith Bair.
Division M – Scale Model
David Schreiber, Rex G. Green, Marcus Bailey, David Phillips, Buck DeRuvo, Sharon McCormick, Robert Cline, Alexander Smith, Keith Cochran.
