Agriculture at the Alaska State Fair

PALMER — While overall numbers of agricultural contestants were slightly lower than usual this year, dedicated contestants brought their plants and livestock from far and wide to the Alaska State Fair, proving that Alaskan agriculture is still alive and well.

“Our communities were founded on agriculture, especially Palmer. So, it’s just part of the Alaska experience,” ASF volunteer Sue Glenn said.

Tammy Ratliff is one of several contestants who entered the fruits, or in her case, the flowers of her labor to be judged and displayed in the 2021 agricultural exhibits. She said that seeing all the colorful arrangements of flowers and other plants in the agricultural exhibits in addition to all the other decorative areas across the grounds is something that so many people in and out of the contests look forward to every time the Fair comes around.

“Alaskans are so anxious to see something bloom, something green,” ASF agricultural contestant, Ratliff said.

She said that she’s entered her flowers in the Fair for the last five years, and she’s been a gardener since she was a kid.

“It’s very important in our family,” Ratliff said.

Ratliff said that she won a blue ribbon for a rose she entered in her first year competing at the Fair, pleasantly surprising her and encouraging her to keep coming back. She said that she’s excited to be back and feels good about her entries for this year’s contest.

“It went well last time hope it will go well this time,” Ratliff said. “I feel that it’s imp to enter everything you have... You just have to take a chance and put it in.”

ASF volunteer, Deb Blaylock said the overall crop contest participation is slightly down this year, but there’s a lot of new and exciting entries to see. She said the overall quality is still spot on with a lot of homegrown talent on display.

“People like to experiment and show off their experiments,” Blaylock said.

Glenn said that she also appreciated seeing so much variety this year. She said there’s a lot of creativity and intent involved in the overall presentation of arrangements, offering plenty of inspiration to go around.

“You get to see plants you don’t normally see. So it gives you ideas about things you might want to try out in your own garden,” Glenn said.

Bonnie Hager is a Valley-based gardener who’s been entering her berries, herbs, and flowers to the Fair for several years. She said there’s a lot of different gardening clubs represented each year, and she enjoys the friendly competition and seeing what people bring in each Fair season.

“It makes it fun to come back and see if you got ribbons. You almost get rich from those ribbons but not quite,” Hager said.

The Alaska State Fair Giant Cabbage Weigh-Off is Friday at 6 p.m. For more information, visit alaskastatefair.org.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com