The Slug Races and the Country Fair contest component of Bowfest are the longest running traditions of our annual community festival.
For more than 35 years local gardeners, bakers and farmers have entered their baked goods, home-grown produce, preserves and other home and garden items in friendly local competition.
The Country Fair was hosted this year by the Bowen Agricultural Alliance, with special thanks to Elle Glave and Ken Beatty for their many hours of volunteering. The judges were a mix of four adults, and one youth, with all the entrants' names hidden until after the judging was over!
This year's winners:
The Youth Tallest Sunflower Award went to the Bowen Island Community School students in Mr. Gloag's class. The winning sunflower was 214cm.
Biggest Zucchini : 1st place adult: John Hoover, 2nd place: Jane Skipsey, 1st place youth: Benjamin Kerr
Garden Wow! (strangest, most exotic or interesting, legal, plant grown on Bowen in your garden,) 1st place adult: 1st place adult: Sarah Haxby's twenty year-old Hellebore, 2nd place adult: Jane Ferguson's goji berries. 1st place youth: BICS Garden students' Nasturtium waterfall planted by Mr. Brown's class as part of the Farm to School Program with Pam Matthews. 2nd place youth: Franny Heffelfinger.
Strangest Fruit/Root Vegetable: 1st place youth: Alissa Schaly for the tomato with the nose and a carrot with fingers won the first place adult award!
The categories that had the most entries were the Best Bee photo and the Best Chicken Award' More than 40 bee photos had the contest judges a-buzz! The first place youth award went to Emmet Sparling. His sophisticated cropping and layouts were very professional and the close-up photos themselves were spectacular, elevating the subject matter to an art form. If Emmet's photos had been entered in the adult category, they would have won there as well, but the 1st place adult award went to Sarah Haxby's unusual night-photo of a bee and a flower spider in a yellow poppy. The 2nd place Adult Best Bee photo went to Dennis Nault and the 2nd place youth award went to the BICS students' photo of the mason bee program.
The Best Chicken awards had judges clucking as the entries were all terrific! However Fanny Heffelfinger's youth entry won best overall for her entry which was nicely laid out and showed how much she knows, and loves her blue-egg-laying chicken! Franny took home the blue first place youth Best Chicken award ribbon, and will also receive a free bag of chicken feed, courtesy of Carolyn MacDonald of Bowen Island's MacDonald's Farm and Feed Supplies. The 2nd place youth award went to Lucie Robichaud and the 3rd place to Meghan Creswick, who both created lovely art works featuring their chickens. First place adult award went to Elisabeth Pechlaner for her beautiful painting of a chicken and two-page story. Brian Creswick won the 2nd place award for his fabulous drawing and poem, and 3rd place was awarded to Jane Ferguson.
