Mark My Words

Note to self: always read the fine print.

One of our favorite summer traditions is visiting the Jefferson County Fair. While perusing the exhibits last year, I learned that any ol’ Joe off the street can vie for a blue ribbon. Presumably this applies to people not named Joe, as well. Excited by this revelation, I vowed to enter an exhibit of my own the following year. Something photography-related. Tara was game and wanted to focus on her gardening. Just like that, Team MarTar was poised to become a double threat!

Man, was I excited! I never got into organized sports as a kid, my toothpick-and-cardboard cotton gin entry in the science fair was a joke (though inventor Eli Whitney is forever ingrained in my brain–useful if I ever end up on Jeopardy, I suppose), and the one time I entered a spelling bee–something I was ostensibly good at–nerves got the better of me and I stumbled over the word birthday, eliminating me from the competition after the very first word. All of which is to say, I never got a trophy for the mantle. We never had a mantle anyway, but that’s not the point! The closest I ever came to glory occurred in Cub Scouts, when my Pinewood Derby car placed second. I guess my troop was operating on a lean budget, ’cause I didn’t get so much as a pat on the back for that accomplishment. Lame!

I still have my car, by the way.

I’m not the sentimental type like ol’ Brian H.–his blog name is literally Writing From the Heart with Brian, so you know you’re in for some tugging-at-the-heartstrings posts when reading that guy–but I’ll make an exception just this once and sappily admit the car holds a special place in my heart because my dad helped me build it.

Anyhoo. I loved the idea of belatedly winning a ribbon, so I started planning months in advance. I downloaded the 71-page fair exhibit guidebook, read it from cover to cover, familiarized myself with the Open Photography section, chose some photos, had 8″x10″ copies printed through Snapfish, dropped by Hobby Lobby {shudder, but they were convenient} for 11″x14″ white poster boards and a roll of scrapbooking tape for mounting, all per the very strict rules. I penciled in the exhibit drop-off date on my calendar: Saturday, June 27, 9–11 a.m. at the fairgrounds, and was confident I had all my ducks in a row. The only thing left was to officially register…

…but when I went to do that yesterday, I learned I had missed the registration window. Entries for the 2026 fair had closed weeks ago. Somehow, despite all my meticulous planning, I had overlooked the fact that the deadline to register was May 31.

#@!%^

The devil’s in the details, as they say, and those details had inadvertently escaped my notice. Talk about a disappointment! I guess that blue (or red or white or yellow, but it had better be blue) ribbon will have to wait for the 2027 Jefferson County Fair now. My only consolation is that Tara wasn’t prepared for this year’s fair either, having used up her last jar of tomato jam months ago. The salsa’s all gone too, and we don’t have any ripe produce quite yet. (Also, I still don’t have a mantle, so there’s that.)

I guess we’ll have to wait another year before Team MarTar takes the county fair by storm.

Here’s one of the photos I’d planned on entering.

And okay, I don’t really know if it’s award-worthy, but I’ll tell you something: that sunrise over the Rock River one morning last summer stopped me in my tracks. The photo barely does it justice. Then again, do they ever?

I was reading the local paper recently–yes, I subscribe, and yes, it’s an actual physical newspaper, the kind that leaves smudgy ink prints on your fingers, none of this newfangled high-tech digital gadgetry for yours truly–and saw that the City of Fort Atkinson is sponsoring a first-ever summer photo contest. There’s no ribbon or trophy or plaque, but winners do receive a $25 gift card redeemable at any local business, so I figured, what the hell. Submitted my sunrise photo this morning in the Nature category. Figured it was worth a shot, and might ease the sting of my dumbassery in missing the registration deadline for the fair.

And yes, I read the fine print this time. The entry deadline is July 11, so I’m golden.