Artists, crafters show their skills

PORTALES - Sometimes you've just got to show everyone what you're capable of, whether that be painting, baking or crocheting. And what better place to do that than the annual county fair.

Artists, crafters, hobbyists and more were busy buzzing about the Roosevelt County Fairgrounds on Tuesday morning as they scrambled to get their projects of choice entered and ready to display for the coming week.

"It's an opportunity to show the projects and diverse talents of the people in our county," said Kim Berry, superintendent of the Home Arts Show.

Berry said they've had a decent amount of entries this year and that many of the regulars offered up new projects.

Generally, projects by adults and teenagers are displayed in the Home Arts Building, while projects by children are displayed in the Youth Building alongside the horticulture entries. Photography and more traditional artwork like paintings can be found in the Fine Arts Room in the Pavilion building.

Katey Frazier and Emma Morton spent Tuesday morning working with Fine Arts Superintendent Gayle Walker to sort through the stack of paintings they'd hoped to enter into this year's competition and making some minor alterations to get their frames up to code.

"I'm nervous out of my mind. I don't usually think my art's that good, but we'll see," Morton said.

This was Morton's first year entering after moving from Carlsbad, while Frazier decided to enter again alongside Morton after taking several years off.

"It was a long time ago, I think back when I was 16, I entered with my sister," Frazier said. "I'm getting back into it. I'm really excited and maybe just a little bit nervous. It's good to get back into it."

Co-Superintendent Crystal Evaniuck was hard at work Tuesday sorting and cataloguing the various Youth Art Show projects. Everything from Lego dioramas to paper mache incarnations of popular cartoon characters crossed her desk, crafted by the children of Roosevelt County. Evaniuck considers the Youth Art Show to be one of the most important aspects of the fair and looks forward to all the new projects she sees each year.

"Kids are able to display their work and have a sense of pride about it," Evaniuck said. "It's probably the only place they can get out there and display their work for the whole community to see."

The art shows run all week after things officially kicked off on Tuesday. Judging took place for most projects on Monday, with the most impressive entries receiving ribbons.

The Home Arts Building, Youth Building and Art Room are open every day of the fair from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. through Saturday.