A bountiful start to Washington County Fair
During the kid’s tractor pull competition, participants took a break to hang out at the Washington County Fair Saturday.
Emily Harger/Observer-Reporter Erin McChesney and her mother Holly McChesney wash their goat that will be presented in the Market Breeding competition at the Washington County Fair on Saturday, August 10.
Emily Harger/Observer-Reporter The first afternoon of the Washington County Fair wasn't too crowded, leaving rides with only a few passengers on them on August 10.
Emily Harger/Observer-Reporter Milan Pennetti, 3, of South Fayette enjoyed the first day of the Washington County Fair by getting her face painted right as the fair opened on August 10.
Jim McClelland is bananas about apples. He had 100 acres of apple trees on the farm he once owned and has sponsored the apple pie contest for nearly a half-century at the Washington County Agricultural Fair.
McClelland is 93, a retired North Strabane Township farmer now living in Washington and an apple purist – or so he seems.
“There has to be only apples in apple pies,” he said, sounding cantankerous yet – considering his sharp wit – playful at the same time. McClelland prefers his favorite pie without berries, cherries or peaches, but isn’t about to begrudge a contestant for mixing apples with what he considers to be forbidden fruit.
Without knowing, Kim Newland of Finleyville followed McClelland’s recipe for success and won Saturday’s pie contest; her apples-only Apple Pie was the apple of the judges’ eyes – and, likely, McClelland’s – in beating out 20 other entries.
The 216th annual county fair got off to a bountiful start in the morning thanks to the pie contest and seven other food competitions, including Spam. The fair queen contest in the evening was another highlight of the first day of the event, which will run through next Saturday at the Washington County Fairgounds and Expo Center in Chartiers Township.
Newland, actually, does not share McClelland’s mindset. She will bake an apple pie with other fruit(s), but simply didn’t this time.
“I thought I’d go back to the traditional apple pie,” said Newland, a medical transcriptionist at Greater Pittsburgh Orthopaedic Associates in Moon Township. “There’s a certain time of the year when you get apples in season, and I decided to just go with apples.”
She has entered the pie competition since 2007 but the first time she earned a ribbon for one of the top three places. She said she learned how to bake an apple pie from her grandmother, a county fair pie runner-up in 2000.
Newland’s triumph this year qualifies her for the 2014 Pennsylvania Farm Show competition in Harrisburg.
There were eight food competitions, some for youth only, starting with Spam at 9 a.m.
Spam at 9 a.m.?
Both Spam winners Saturday – Cathy Philabaum of Claysville in the Adult Chef category and Chelsea Rohan, 15, of Munhall, Allegheny County, in Kid Chef – advance to the national competition. They will attempt to match the success of Carly Terensky of Cross Creek Township, a rising seventh-grader in Avella Area School District. She is the reigning U.S. Kid Chef champ.
“I don’t try (Spam recipes) at other times. I look at recipes, come up with ideas and go with what I like (for the fair),” said Philabaum, maker of the winning Spamtatic Turkey Meatball Sub. She has earned other fair food ribbons over the past decade or so, including a remarkable three first places in 2000.
Newland is one of three winners Saturday who will go on to the state competiton next year. The others are Sandy Campbell of Peters Township in the Chocolate Cake category (Chocolate Banana Cake) and Bonnie Mortimer of Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, in the Angel Food Cake contest (Cherry Angel Food Cake).
Alyssa Stieglitz, 15, of Washington, won the Chocolate Cookie competition for youth, which was judged at the same time as Choclate Cake. But there was no Harrisburg berth available. Her entry: Pennsylvania Preferred Chocolate Brownie Spectacular.
Winners in the Fleischmann’s Yeast and Bisquick Favorites contests likewise did not have events where they could advance. Marcy Piatt of Avella (Grape Upside Down Surprise) won the inaugural county Bisquick competition.
The Fleischmann’s event featured two subcategories, Baked Goods and Dessert Pizza, won respectively by Barbara Kostelic of Cecil Township and Camille Papia of Amwell Township.
“I used a little bit of this, a little bit of that,” said Papia, whose Cherry Streusel Dessert Pizza with Chocolate Crust prevailed over six other entries. “I’m totally shocked by this. I thought my zucchini cheddar (entry) would do something, not this.”
It also was a sweet victory for Kostelic, whose cinnamon rolls finished first in a field of 15.
“I’m very happy about this,” she said. “Did you see me jump when my name was called?”
Her jump was part of a jump start to an exciting eight days in Arden.