THE FAIR: Soggy and cold but still a great tradition

This year's Unionville Community Fair was cold, wet, and windy -- but still awesome in my book.
The Denim & Diamonds opening-night party had great food: mushroom soup from the Kennett Square Inn, pulled pork from Hood's BBQ, salad from Kendal/Crosslands Communities, shrimp and grits from The Gables in Chadds Ford, flatbreads from Sovana Bistro, a glorious cake by Vanessa Ross Cakes, and butlered hors d'oeuvres by Triple Fresh (with Doe Run cheese). The drinks were from Paradocx Vineyard, Victory Brewing and Waywood Beverage. Everything was so well done that it was hard to believe it was only Michele Berardi's first year running the party.
I had fun seeing my "Fair Friends," including this year's Fair honoree, Dave Salomaki. The students from the Pennock's Bridge Technical College High School who printed out the entry tags were wonderfully efficient and amusing, drinking jumbo-size energy drinks and eating Landhope subs as they worked.
The judging day was Thursday, and it was fun to watch the students from Longwood Gardens judging the flowers and vegetables, poring over the specimens as carefully as pathologists. (I got dinged for my amaranth's foliage, and my pumpkin was completely out of the ribbons.)
This year I was the volunteer director of one of the baked goods areas, and we got a terrific number of entries, most of them of high caliber. My judges, three professionals in the food industry, spent two hours taste-testing the various breads, cookies, muffins, and candies and debating their merits. They had no trouble deciding on the best-of-show winner, though: a creamy chocolate fudge that looked and tasted like heaven.
There were a couple of conspicuous absences at the Fair this year (other than the parade and rodeo, which were casualties of the Nor'Easter). We missed Vincent Sun's beautiful flowers and garden produce (he told me he felt like he was monopolizing the competition, having won the overall David J. Whenry Award several times running) and Jared Murphy's chocolate cookies (he had the nerve to age out of the contest).
Congrats to all the Fair volunteers. What a huge undertaking!