By John Underwood / john@gulfcoastmedia.com
ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — The Baldwin County Farmers Federation Women’s Program held competitions for cooking, sewing and tablescapes on Monday, April 1 at the Baldwin County Farmers Federation Building, located behind Alfa Insurance in Robertsdale.
“We had a really good turnout this year, especially in the cooking competition,” said Jennifer Salac, chairman of the Baldwin County Farmers Federation’s members committee.
Seven ladies competed for a chance to advance to the state competition, which will be held Sept. 5 at the state Alfa office in Montgomery, presenting offerings in savory non-sweet dairy-based dips.
Barbara Lawson qualified for the state competition as Baldwin County’s first place finisher; with Diane Sopr and Jean Fontaine finishing in a tie for second. Other competitors were Evelyn Wright, Faye Fidler, Dawn Hopper and Jennifer Salac.
New to this year’s competition was the tablescape category which includes a place and table setting following a commodities theme.
Carolyn Salac was the top winner with her poultry-themed tablescape, followed by Evelyn Wright in second for her pork-themed tablescape and Diane Sopr in third with a cotton-themed tablescape.
Bonnie Savell took home top prize for three sewing categories, hand-stitched cotton quilt; machine stitched baby quilt; and machine-stitched cotton quilt. Kathy Byrd finished second in the machine stitched baby quilt category. There were no entries in the Christmas tree skirt category.
Sewing and tablescape winners would normally advance to state competition at the Alabama Commodities Conference in Birmingham, but there will not be a state conference this year because of the Commodity Producers Conference, which is being held at the same time, Aug. 1-4, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Local winners in all three categories received cash prizes of $75 for first place; $50 for second; and $25 for third, Salac said.
“It is the purpose of the Baldwin County Farmer’s Federation Women’s Program to promote agriculture and agriculture-related products in Baldwin County,” Salac said. “We appreciate the continued support of local area residents and hope to be able to have more participation in events like this in the future.”
If you would like more information about the Alabama Farmers Federation and its auxiliary organizations, visit alfafarmers.org.