With the cancellation of the Marin County Fair in July due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the county’s Department of Cultural Services has launched a Virtual Fair with weekly contests, activities and exhibits on the fair’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
Appropriately enough, the topic of this week’s contest that ends 5 p.m. Sunday is decorated face masks. The winner who will be announced Monday will receive a virtual blue ribbon and a free pair of tickets to the 2021 Marin County Fair.
Each week’s contest will award a Best of Show made by the exhibitor, Best of Show decorated by an exhibitor, the overall Most Creative Entry and overall Best Fair Theme.
The face masks can be made by an exhibitor or purchased and decorated.
Future weekly competitions will include decorated foods, trash-to-treasure artworks, pet costume contests, funny family photos, poetry, coordinated family dance routines and other stay-at-home activities.
The virtual competitions will be designed to comply with any of the county’s shelter-in-place orders and focus on projects that can be done at home.
Fair staff members will post links of ‘how-to’ videos about juggling, baking, cheese making, animal husbandry, music lessons and more that feature some of the fair’s favorite artists and partners.
Gabriella Calicchio, director of the Department of Cultural Services said:
“The cancellation of the fair was a blow for our whole community, and we appreciate the importance of the competitive exhibits program to foster creativity, togetherness, family participation and joy.”
The Virtual Fair will engage fans, keep the community creatively active and provide some levity during shelter-in-place orders, Calicchio said.
Information about the fair is available at www.facebook.com/MarinCountyFair and instagram.com/marincountyfair/.
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