Bill Ryan/THe Gazette
Ruth Ellen Burrier and Margaret Schroyer, both of Middletown, log entries for the Middletown-Braddock Community Show, at Middletown Elementary School on Friday.
|
Adam Holter has been going to the Middletown-Braddock Community Show his whole life, and hopes the event will live on as one of the Middletown Valley's best community events.
"There's something about going to this community show. … I'd like to see it continue, whether that's through me or through others," said the 17-year-old from Jefferson at the event's close Saturday night. "It's a good place for kids and adults to see what other people have created, and I think that's a vital part of the community."
He said photography is his favorite category, as he is a budding cameraman, and that he enjoyed the other attractions of the event, particularly the annual Friday night 4-H talent show program, which inspired him to play music publicly with his worship band Aflame.
The event, which drew about 100 people per day, is a Valley-wide social event focused around Great Frederick Fair-style competitions for ribbons and small prizes in categories ranging from hand-woven baskets to homemade clothes; home-cured hams to all manner of produce and baked goods.
It has been around "since either 1914 or 1916," no one knows which, according to Devra Boesch of Middletown, a co-chair of the show, which took place Friday night and all day Saturday.
"This event is here so the whole Middletown Valley community can show off their homemade and homegrown goodies," Boesch said. "It's like the Great Frederick Fair and squishing it down into the [Middletown Elementary School] gymnasium."
The Friday night program featured 4-H groups such as the Valley Urbanites (Middletown), Bug Patrol (Middletown-area), Myersville Mountaineers, and the Calico Clovers (Jefferson), members of whom sang songs, played musical instruments, and put on a small fashion show.
But the fun did not stop there, and after the 4-H groups finished their segment, a cake auction followed. South Mountain Collision Center purchased a carrot cake that went for the most money.
"It was a big, big, big bidding war and South Mountain Collision made the top bid of $620, so for a little show like this that's a biggie," Boesch said.
Money collected during the cake auction and other various avenues — there are no admissions or entry fees for the show — go back into the community show, funding the premiums awarded to ribbon-winners and other expenses.
There is no charge to attend the show or to enter items in it, and small cash prizes of $1.25 to $4 are awarded to ribbon winners.
The event, which is sponsored by the Middletown, Braddock Heights and Maryland State Granges, and by a grant from the Maryland Agricultural Fair Board, ended Saturday night with a marathon performance by the Gospel Travelers, a Frederick gospel group, which crooned classic gospel songs while people enjoyed food provided by the Myersville Mountaineers.
Hannah Hartley of Middletown, a 13-year-old home-schooled member of the Mountaineers, took part in several aspects of the show. She spent several hours on both Friday and Saturday serving hot dogs, chili dogs, sloppy Joes, soups and desserts for the group, and participated in the Friday night program.
"I helped out with the Myersville Mountaineers to serve food here, counting money and making food and stuff. Both days we got here at 4 [p.m.] and didn't leave until 8:30 or 9 [p.m.]," she said. "The gospel trio has been singing here for years and years, and their music was really nice. And we go to model our outfits yesterday for 4-H."
