Not only is the Denim & Diamonds party a fun way to kick off the Unionville Community Fair, it's also utterly irresistible to hyper-competitive sorts like me who need to know as early as humanly possible how our entries fared.
Normally at a party I'm a pretty standard guest: I look around, see who's there and where the food is, and start socializing.
Not at Denim & Diamonds. Oh, no. I check in and then make a beeline for whatever entry I'm most excited about (this year, it was the Adult Vegetables table). The result was most gratifying: a blue ribbon tied to the stem of my pumpkin!
Having slaked my curiosity, it was time to see how my friends had done. I had volunteered to text two equally chomping-at-the-bit friends who weren't at the preview party. I wandered over to the eggs section, where I was delighted to find that a friend's blue eggs took a Best of Show ribbon! I took a photo and posted it on Facebook.
Then I returned to the Adult Vegetables competition; a gym friend had asked me to see how his entries had done. Turns out he is one of the most skilled gardeners around-- I have seen his name on Fair entries for years but never made the connection. As usual, at this year's Fair he won at least a dozen blue ribbons for his wonderful vegetable specimens. I texted him about his success; it was a lengthy message.
Duty out of the way, I got a glass of Chadds Ford white wine and put on my sociable hat, yacking with all of the great "Fair friends" I've made over the years, including Karen D'Agusto, Karen Statz, Debra Swayne, Dave Salomaki, Sharon Parker, Berta Rains, Barbara Rechenberg (mother of this year's Fair Queen, Carly Rechenberg), East Marlborough Township Supervisor John Sarro, Fair past president Jayne Shea and this year's president, Danielle Chamberlain. Jaclyn McCabe was the preview party coordinator.
I bid on a few silent auction items -- a Foxy Loxy gift card and a batik gym bag -- but was quickly outbid. The highlight of the live auction was Embreeville resident Robin Mastripolito's mouth-watering gourmet cupcakes, which sold for $80 a dozen!
Triple Fresh of Ercildoun did the catering and made pulled-pork and roast beef sliders, cooked-to-order pasta and a very nice salad.
It's a shame the only familiar name is Mastripolito. All the natives are either dead or can't afford the taxes.
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