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The competitive events at the 2019 Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson proved to be successful for Ellsworth County residents Wilma Olds of Wilson, Kirk Robson of Ellsworth, and Dave Svaty and Anna Hand, both of Kanopolis.

Olds won first place overall in the bread sculpture competition, Robson won first place in the Plein Aire competition, first place and best of show runner-up in the professional sculpting competition, and second place for an alabaster bowl. Svaty won the Governor’s watermelon competition and Hand won second place reserve champion in the Governor’s cookie jar competition, plus first place in a shoe decorating competition.

Here’s information on each winner:

Wilma Olds

Wilma Olds of Wilson is no stranger to the winner’s circle at the Kansas State Fair.

“I’ve enjoyed competing as far back as I can remember,” she said.

This year, she won the top award in the bread sculpture competition with a carousel made of bread dough, except for the metal base plate and center rod. Everything is edible except the frame.

‘‘There’s a lot of work involved,” Olds said.“It’s a good feeling to know they liked it and all that work paid off.”

In 1980, Olds won first place in the cookie jar competition. In 1987, she won first place for a 75th anniversary food basket. In 1992, she won first place for a bread basket. In 1993, she was the first place sweepstakes winner in the Candy Collection. In 2012, she won first place for a bread basket. In 2014, she won first place in the cookie jar competition and first place for her bread basket. In 2015, she won first place for a candy box. In 2016, she won first place in the family heirloom recipes competition. In 2018, she placed first overall in the bread sculptures competition.

“I’ve also entered several times where I didn’t place first or at all, which has encouraged me to try again and to perfect my recipes,” Olds said.

Olds said she has always had a fascination with carousels.

“When you think about the fair and the theme of the fair this year, ‘All Things Kansas,’ I thought about the carousel.”

Wilson blacksmith Winslow Janda built the metal frame for the carousel and local farmer Corey Dlabal supplied wheat kernels which were imbedded in the dough.

The carousel also utilizes sunflowers, something Olds likes to incorporate in her projects.

“I made the recipe like I always do,” she noted.“The same as I would make for rolls.”

While some people like to paint, Olds said she enjoys creating things.

Asked what her biggest challenge was in making the carousel, Olds said it was all challenging.

“You do things a couple of times — it’s not just a one time trial,” she said.

For example, she had to remake the base of the carousel because the bread in the first base cracked.

Writing her notes for the judging and making sure she took pictures of everything she did during the construction process was also a challenge.

Safely transporting the carousel from Wilson to Hutchinson was also a challenge. Olds set the carousel on pillows to soften the ride to the State Fair. She also took with her extra royal frosting, a glue gun and other items needed for last minute touch-ups.

“This year, I couldn’t drive up to the domestic arts building,” she said.“I had to carry it in from the parking lot. And that was a challenge.”

Olds said she has a supportive family and employer that allowed her the time it took (most of August) to get the carousel completed and judged.

“Without that support I probably wouldn’t be able to do it,” she said.

Olds said she already has a project in mind for next year’s Kansas State Fair, but is remaining mum on the details.

“You’ll just have to go to the fair and find out,” she said.

To those who would like to enter a project in the state fair, Olds has three words of advice — go for it.

“Give it a try,” she said. “That’s how I started.”

Kirk Robson

Kirk Robson of Ellsworth, like Wilma Olds, is no stranger to winning competitions at the Kansas State Fair. Four years ago, he won a sculpting competition there.

This year, his first place project in the professional sculpting competition involved a piece of marble that he carved last summer in Colorado.

“I turned it into an end table,” Robson, the owner of Focal Points Stone Carving in Ellsworth, said.“I made a glass top and engraved a (Bible) scripture on top: John 16:22— For you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take away your joy from you.”

Robson said it was a memorial piece to his son, who was stillborn five years ago.

For first place in the Plein Aire competition, Robson was given two days to complete carving a building medallion in the state fair arena using a piece of stone he brought with him and just a hammer and chisel. The piece took him 12 hours to complete. It will be auctioned off by the state fair at a fundraising event later this year.

Robson also entered a carved bowl he made from Italian ice alabaster with a soapstone ring around the top and bottom which won second place.

The bowl was for his wife, Janelle, for their 15-year wedding anniversary.

“I also inlaid crystals around the rim of the bowl, because crystal is the 15 year wedding anniversary gift,” he said.

Robson said it is always nice to have people like what he makes.

“Anytime you go into competition, you’re depending upon one person’s opinion, which can always be frustrating,” he said. “But this year it turned out in my favor.”

Robson said he entered the state fair competition to let another arena of people see what he could do.

“It’s a pretty easy setup to affect a lot of people,” he said.

The biggest challenge he faced was picking out what piece he was going to carve.

“Obviously stone carving takes more time than painting,” he said.“So I had to be careful on detail and make it something I could actually finish in the amount of time.”

Robson said the people involved in the professional arts category were “absolutely amazing.”

“They have actually gotten me other contacts through that,” he said.

Robson said if he has the time, he plans to enter the competition at next year’s Kansas State Fair.

“It was enjoyable,” he said. “It wasn’t as overwhelming as I thought it would be.”

Robson encourages anyone interested in competing at the state fair to do so.

“Everybody is very friendly and nice and welcoming,” he said.“It really is a good time.”

Anna Hand

Unlike Olds and Robson, this was the first time Anna Hand of Kanopolis had entered the open class at the Kansas State Fair and the Cookie Jar competition.

“I was really excited,” she said, adding to get second place in the Cookie Jar competition was amazing.

However, as a 4-H member, she had placed in many different competitions at the state level.

“I love the State Fair,” Hand, a physics and engineering student at Fort Hays State University in Hays, said.“I loved 4-H and I really enjoyed entering projects back then. This year, I decided I wanted to put several entries in the fair. I enjoy baking and I also enjoy painting. After reading through the state fair handbook, I thought the Governor’s Cookie Jar competition would be a good fit.”

Hand said her cookie jar drew on this year’s state fair theme. Her cookie jar consisted of three separate paintings that showcased the beauty of the Sunflower State — particularly its landscape.

“To finish it off, I created a bouquet of flowers out of crepe paper and wheat,” she said. “The flowers were sunflowers, the state flower of Kansas, and poppies, which is a flower often showcased in Czech culture.”

Hand said she chose six different types of cookies to bake and put in her jar.

“The judges require cookies from at least five categories: rolled, refrigerated, drop, molded, and bar,” she said. “They also must fit the theme of the competition.”

Hand said her biggest challenge was getting the cookies all baked at the right time.

“If I baked them too early they wouldn’t be good for the judges to try,” she said. “But if I baked them too late, obviously I wouldn’t have time to finish all six types. All in all, I baked about 18 dozen cookies.”

Hand said her favorite part of the fair was seeing her work showcased.

“It was fun to have people texting and calling me to tell me that they had seen my entries,” she said.

Hand said she is definitely going to enter the competition next year at the state fair.

“I have a lot of time to think about it, but I already have some projects that weren’t quite done for the fair this year that will be done, hopefully, by next summer,” she said.“These include a painting, another shoe, a barn quilt, an actual quilt, and definitely another cookie jar. I will be sure to have most of these featured at the county fair in Ellsworth as well.”

Hand said her best advice for those entering projects in the state fair is to try to avoid procrastination.

“Admittedly, this is always something that haunts me,” she said.“But really, the state fair book goes up usually after the first of the year, if not sooner. Take time to plan out the projects you are interested in and then get them finished so you aren’t rushing at the last minute.”

Hand said if you have your state fair project done, enter it in the county fair to be judged.

“Then you can use the comments you receive there to make final edits before you take it to Hutchinson,” she said.

Dave Svaty

Dave Svaty of Svaty Produce in Kanopolis won the Governor’s watermelon in the produce competition at the state fair.

Svaty entered four watermelons consisting of three varieties — Charleston Gray, Verde Grande and 7-10.

“They are judged on uniformity and appearance,” he said. “Fortunately, we were able to come out on top. We were really happy we were able to do that. We’re happy to represent this county and Svaty’s Produce.”

This is the second time Svaty has won the Governor’s watermelon. Three years ago, he presented the Governor’s watermelon to Gov. Sam Brownback.

Svaty said the first place accolades belong not only to him, but to his son, Caleb, and their entire family.

“It takes more than me to do this,” Svaty said.

Svaty said he enters the competition at the Kansas State Fair every year.

“It’s good advertising for us,” he said.“We try to put out a good product and we try to let people know we put out a good product. This is a good way to show people we are trying to do the best we can.”

Out of 22 entries this year, Svaty came home with 16 ribbons.

Svaty said he looks forward to competing next year.

“I try to win every year,” he said.“It’s not that easy — we’re just happy to be able to do it.”

Svaty said his biggest challenge this year was the weather — followed by spray drift.

“I think all the farmers around here would say the challenge is the weather,” he said. “We had a cold spring and didn’t get a good start on anything because it was too cold and damp and it delayed everything.”

Svaty Farms also had to start over because they received a hail storm which beat the crops down to the ground.

“We had enough plants so we could start over but it wasn’t real good,” Svaty said.

Svaty said his family loves to grow watermelons.

“That’s what we look forward to for summer,” he said.

Svaty said when he presented the winning watermelon to Gov. Laura Kelly, she told him she was going to eat it.

“Of course, she asked if I was related to Josh (Svaty, former Kansas state representative and candidate for Kansas governor),” Svaty said. “And I said, yes, I’m his uncle.”

Svaty said his best advice for those planning to enter into the competition at the state fair is to persevere.

“Entries need to be in by Aug. 15 and it doesn’t really cost you anything to enter, but after that it costs $25 an entry, so you want to have your entries in early.”