Ventura County Fair : Setting Things Straight at Fair Contest

The Ventura County Fair’s veteran table-setters sat in groups of two and three outside the Creative Living hall Friday morning, passing photos, exchanging gossip.

Between them, they had more than 200 years of table-setting experience. But there was a stranger in their midst this time. Me.

I attempted to join in the discussion. Anything to quell our nerves as the judges inside decided who would get the blue ribbon for that day’s table-setting competition.

“This is the worst part,” said Lisa Vitalec, 29, a Ventura mother who has been arranging table settings competitively since childhood. “You just have to wait until they say we can go back in and see who won.”

Anne Taylor Brown, 62, of Ventura also knew the gig. It was her 11th year of competition. Other veterans included Harriet Currey of Ventura, Francoise Martinod of Moorpark, Mirian (Fifi) Locke of Camarillo and Maria Hagman of Thousand Oaks.

To say I was intimidated is a huge understatement. A tension headache--which would later require three Extra Strength Tylenols--was in the making. How could I possibly live up to their mastery with a tablecloth?

When my editor asked if I wanted to enter any of the fair’s contests and write about the experience, table-setting immediately came to mind. I have always admired the contest in past fairs.

It was a wonderful justification for buying new dishes. But it’s also kind of weird, as fair contests go, because it’s the only exhibit in the 65-acre Seaside Park that includes written criticisms by the judges. Placed on your table for all 250,000 visitors to see.

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So with a bit of trepidation, I entered.

And I didn’t get off to a good start. On my application, I mistakenly typed the address where my contest confirmation and rules should be sent.

As one who has been the butt of countless family jokes about fanatical organizing, including arranging 40-plus boxes of shoes in a closet by color and style, it was an egregious error.

Martha Stewart, for whom I have this love-hate thing, would snicker and call me an amateur.

Which is really what I was.

Sure, getting the knife and fork in the right place was no sweat. But what about the other, more abstract and subjective qualities the judges would be looking for?

The table had to follow a “Santa Fe Trail” theme, and categories like “overall picture, incorporation of theme, balance/harmony and originality/artistic arrangement” counted for 60% of the total score. That stumped me. I’m more left brain than right brain.

My sister, Christine, is the creative one in the family. I needed advice. So I called her in Orange County.

“Do something with dried beans,” she offered.

OK, good start. But I needed more. A week before the contest, I started getting panicky. Especially after looking at some of the earlier table-setting contest entries.

Lisa Brown of Oxnard last week built a three-foot canopy over her table, draped it with billowing gauze, and suspended tiny glass stars and moons from the fabric for a “Celestial Evening” theme. She won second place.

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Locke took first for a beautifully coordinated table with royal blue goblets, a handmade royal blue tablecloth and a whimsical angel centerpiece. The cheap brown dishes I had picked up from Pic ‘N’ Save for my Western theme suddenly looked pathetic.

So I went uptown. With my mom, Nancy, along for support, I picked out bright red enamelware dishes and hammered silver settings at Pier 1 Imports. A red and white gingham tablecloth was next, followed by a burlap runner.

I began collecting props: a rusty tin watering can in my back yard became the planter for a small barrel cactus. Nicholby’s Antique Mall in downtown Ventura loaned me an old camp lantern.

And, on the day before the competition, I found two old-fashioned jelly jars at a thrift shop for 35 cents each. They would serve as rustic drinking glasses. Finally, I was ready.

But so was Fifi, Harriet and the rest of my rivals. There were a lot of cactus and old camp lanterns to be seen when we set about decorating the 10 tables in competition early Friday morning.

I was incredibly nervous. I didn’t think I would be. This had started out as a fluke, something fun to write about. But by Friday morning, I wanted to win. And so did the 10 other women--and one man--who were working either individually or in teams.

We had one hour to finish. Everyone was friendly, but a little edgy. Locke let me borrow her Windex to give my dishes one last sparkling swipe. And then she handed me a small paintbrush.

“Sweep any dirt off your table,” she commanded as I looked at her quizzically. “Trust me.”

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We were herded out so the two judges could do their work. Both had experience in interior design and table setting, I was told. After an excruciating 90-minute wait, we were allowed to go back in.

“Oh my God!” Vitalec said to me. “You won!”

Then she hugged me.

I was stunned and a little embarrassed. But I was also very thrilled. Still, I wasn’t sure how the other, more experienced women felt. So I asked Harriet Curry.

“To tell you the truth, you just don’t walk in the first time and take the blue,” she said, looking straight at me. “It just doesn’t happen.”

I’m not sure what she meant. But I was certain of another thing. I wouldn’t enter another table-setting contest. It was too nerve-racking. My hands are starting to shake again just thinking about it.

Thanks, but I’ll stick to writing.

* FAIR SCHEDULE, RELATED STORY: B2