6/9/2010

Exhibit guides are now available for the 2010 Plumas-Sierra County Fair. Guides may be found at numerous outlets around town: schools, banks, libraries and post offices. You may also get one at the fair office at the fairgrounds in Quincy or download all or part of it online at plumas-sierracountyfair.net/exhibit-guide.html. The theme for this year's fair is "Bales, Tails and Happy Trails."

You have a little over a month to enter for most categories - deadline is 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 14. The fair begins receiving entries Thursday, Aug. 5.

We encourage you to find a category that appeals to you and enter! The fair is only as good as we make it. Participation is the key to making the fair a vibrant cultural event. If you haven't looked at the exhibit guide, you might be surprised by the number and variety of categories you can enter. (Who knew you could enter poetry?) Although an essential part of the fair, the event is not just about livestock.

Here at Feather Publishing we have a tradition of supporting the local fair. Our employees have won a bevy of blue ribbons, mostly in home arts, but we've also had winners in other categories. We'll be there in force again this year.

Still not convinced it's worth the effort? Consider this: recent research in neuroscience suggests that "good, old-fashioned handiwork" can help ease depression.

According to brain scan data, hands-on work triggers a kind of "effort-driven reward circuit," stimulating parts of the brain connected not only with rewards and emotions, but also with higher reasoning (anticipation, planning and problem solving). It doesn't matter what craft you choose, all long as you find it engaging and absorbing.

So do something good for yourself and your community - start planning now for your fair entry. If nothing in the exhibit guide appeals to you, consider putting together an entry for the fair parade. You'll feel better and, who knows, you may even earn bragging rights.

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We have had an overwhelming response to our Where in the World feature. Folks have been sending us pictures of themselves with one of our local papers at spots around the globe. We now have a considerable backlog. We've tried running some of the pictures in the front sections of the newspapers, but still haven't caught up.

Don't get us wrong. We are not complaining. Problems of abundance are preferable to problems of scarcity. So, we are running a page full of pictures elsewhere in the printed section of today's paper. We will do that periodically whenever we get an overabundance of submissions.

Thanks for your input and enjoy!