Special category at Columbiana County Fair to honor first responders

LISBON, Ohio — There will be a special category for the Arts & Crafts Department for the 2012 Columbiana County Fair.

“When the Call Comes” covers the quilting, knitting, crocheting and photography categories, and is designed to honor the first responders of the county, including police, fire and EMTs from all departments in the county.

Cope has been working with Highlandtown fire chief, Tim Roush, and members of the VFW Post 895 and AmVets Post 45, both in Salem, to develop the criteria for honoring these members of the community.

Criteria

The color and size requirements remain the same as in the past: all items must be red, white and blue in color, lap robe (40 inches-by-60 inches) in size and up to, but no larger than, twin size.

All entries will be displayed in the Arts & Crafts building after they have been judged, during the entire week of the fair, July 30 to Aug. 5, and then presented to recipients at a ceremony scheduled for Sept. 9 at the fairgrounds.

Cope and fellow board member, Bob Crosser, recently returned from Columbus where they presented a workshop to the Ohio Fair Managers Association on the Purple Hearts for Veterans project held at the Columbiana County Fair for 2010. This project was undertaken by the Trumbull County Fair Board in 2011 and they honored 34 medal recipients at a special ceremony over the July 4th holiday, with Cope, Crosser and Director Bob Stark participating.

Several other county fairs across the state have expressed an interest in developing their own project to honor veterans.

Details

Further information on this special category will be available in the premium books for the fair, which should be available later this spring.

Questions can be directed to the fair office at 330-424-5531 or to Cope at 330-222-1914.