A Seedy Business

Valley Life editor

The Alaska State Fair is world famous for giant cabbages, and now the fair itself is getting into the cabbage game -- by selling seeds.

The Alaska State Fair today starts selling packets of the OS Cross Hybrid cabbage seeds for $2.50 each on the fair's Web site, www.alaskastatefair.org. While the seeds may not yield a world-class cabbage, they will help share a bit of Alaska with all who buy them, because the seeds are being packaged with a keepsake postcard designed by former Alaskan Mindy Dwyer.

"I've thought about doing it before, but we just never got around to it. I told Mindy about the idea, and she thought it was great," said Dean Phipps, the fair's marketing director. "She was designing the poster for the fair this year, and she designed the postcard to go with the seeds."

The seeds aren't super-secret seeds from local growers, however. They come from a seed house in the Lower 48, but potential growers will be interested to know that top cabbage producers in the past are offering tips.

"Some of the people are going to be putting tips on the fair's Web site," Phipps said.

"Of course, up here, giant cabbage tips are like trade secrets, so I don't know how much of the tips will be true," he said with a laugh. "I've talked with a lot of the growers about it, because each year we get more and more neophyte growers who are entering the contest. The Alaska State Fair is known for our giant cabbages so we thought it would be a great idea to market giant cabbage seed packets for those who wish to try their hand at the giant beast."

Dwyer is designing the fair's marketing materials this year, and she has plenty of experience -- she's been a painter, a children's author and an illustrator while living in Alaska. She currently lives in Hudson Valley in New York.

She described the marketing materials -- including the cabbage seeds -- as "stylized, imaginative, colorful, fun and animated."

The packets, which will cost $2.50, go on sale today at www.alaskastatefair.org, and at several locations at the Fairgrounds during the fair.