Some of the best crafters, gardeners and beekeepers in Oregon live in Salem and Keizer. At this year’s Oregon state fair, community members swept the creative living categories with their honey, vegetables, quilts and more.
The Oregon State Fair provided Salem Reporter with a list of winners who live in Salem and Keizer. We asked eight of them what their tips are for taking home blue ribbons.
Meet them below, along with the list of other local winners. The ribbon counts are from Monday, Aug. 26, and don’t account for some of the more recent wins.
Ernest and Melody Welch
Eight blue ribbons for fruit and vegetables, including the oddest vegetable
Ernest Welch was pulling the carrots from the ground when “it just happened.”
A single carrot, built like a family of carrots all in one. He entered it into the Oregon State fair’s oddest vegetable category on a whim, and ended up winning the blue ribbon.
It’s not the first time he and his wife’s Melody’s gardening has earned them accolades at the state level. Last year, Melody’s scarecrow bride took home the top prize. This year, the pair’s fruits and vegetables earned them eight blue ribbons, and several best of division.
Welch works in their south Salem home garden and a community garden in the Sunnyside neighborhood. He’s been gardening his whole life, except for the years he was deployed to Vietnam.
Ernest and Melody have “only” been married for 58 years. They met shortly after he returned from the war, and he proposed three weeks later.
“I made him wait for three more weeks,” she said, and laughed. The second time he proposed, they were sitting in his Starfire burgundy red convertible.
Welch grew up in Los Angeles, and he and Melody moved to Salem in 1997. They’ve been entering the Oregon State Fair for “several years” now.
“It’s just a lot of fun,” he said.
He recommends using raised beds to yield award-winning vegetables.
Robert Paluska
Three blue ribbons for honey and bee crafts
Salem optometrist Robert Paluska enjoys beekeeping, and recently got into 3D printing. He combined the two hobbies for the Oregon State Fair this year, winning first place for his light amber honey, a photograph and artistic beeswax made through a 3D printed mold.
Paluska has been keeping bees for eight years, since his beekeeper brother discovered he was allergic to bees and gave him all his equipment.
He grew up entering award-winning show sheep in the state fair, and first entered honey into the fair three years ago.
“My very first time I entered the fair was a disaster,” Paluska said. He didn’t know how to filter out debris and bubbles from his honey, or that he was supposed to bring it in matching jars.
“I got a white [third place] ribbon. I was so embarrassed,” he said.
He’s been learning every year, and said this year was his best yet. He also had little helpers.
“If you don’t have a good batch of bees, you’re not going to get good products,” he said. “It’s their product, I’m just making it look better.”
Paluska’s patients at Eye Care Physicians & Surgeons on Southeast Commercial Street already know how good his honey is. He sells it from his office, and runs out every year.
Paluska keeps hives at his house, and behind the optometrist’s office.
“When patients are like, ‘Is this local honey?’ I’m like ‘Well the hives are back up there, behind the building,’” he said.
Sarah Romanek
Seven blue ribbons for dahlias
Raising blue-ribbon dahlias takes patience and observation, said Sarah Romanek, who won seven blue ribbons for her flowers this year.
“You can just put a dahlia tuber in a garden and let it grow, and it might give you the most beautiful flower you’ve ever seen, but to get them to be the show quality flowers takes a little bit more effort,” she said.
Romanek, a stay-at-home mom in south Salem, has been growing dahlias for five years. She said anyone can do it. This was her second year entering the Oregon State Fair, after she was encouraged by her membership in the Portland Dahlia Society.
“It’s totally OK to start at square one. It’s just about building your skills every season. And you might not get a blue ribbon the first time you try,” she said.
Romanek’s wins included the cactus dahlia category, which describes the spiky shape of flower, and in collarette form, which has a disc bloom with an open center.
“The variation and diversity in dahlias is so amazing. My garden, I have 250 varieties. So that’s 250 different faces to go look at and watch, and take care of and grow,” she said. “And then hope that you’ve done a good job to submit them to the fair and let the judges see them.”
She said her favorite part of the fair is being with the crowds while they look at the flowers.
“Everybody has a story about dahlias,” she said, often about grandparents growing them. “People just love looking at them. So that’s why I like bringing them to the fair.”
Sue Daimler
Eight blue ribbons in cards and paper arts projects
Sue Daimler won several best of division and eight blue ribbons for her greeting cards, gift bag designs and paper art.
Daimler has been making cards for seven years ever since her neighbors invited her over to try it. A friend taught her how to use stamps, and she took to YouTube and Pinterest to watch crafting tutorials.
Now, designing the cards feels like second nature. Categories she entered include watercolor, holiday and seasonal themes.
“I just have to look at something and I can create it,” she said. “Paper talks to you. When you make so much, the paper just talks to you.”
For years, Daimler has been making cards and paper art with Music Box Angels, a local group which she said has given over 4,000 origami music boxes to people going through hard times. They’re about six inches wide, and play Christian songs.
“Some people will literally hug it and cry,” she said. “Even men have been known to hug it and cry, because they’re like, ‘Nobody’s ever given me anything like this.’”
She also started a greeting card ministry with Salem Evangelical Church, which gives cards to people who are hurting letting them know the church is praying for them.
Daimler’s won at the State Fair before for her origami boxes, but this was the first year she entered for greeting cards.
“I’m really pretty stunned, but I’m excited, too,” Daimler said of her wins.
Anne Juurma
Twelve blue ribbons for dahlias, perennials and floral design
This year’s floral display at the Oregon State Fair includes a dozen first-place winners from Anne Juurma’s garden. This was her first year entering the fair.
“I have always been a gardner, and I love flowers and especially dahlias,” she said. Juurma and her husband have 14 acres just outside of Salem, where she plants whatever she pleases.
She learned how to compete at the Grow and Show Garden Club of Salem, where she’s entered competitions for a few years. The small group meets at 6:30 p.m. the first Monday of every month at the Scottish Rite Center on 4090 Commercial St. S.E. and Juurma said anyone is welcome to show up.
“They’re really great about teaching and encouraging people to share their flowers, and we all learn and help each other out,” she said.
Juurma said dahlias are very tough to grow. They need specialized care over the winter, and often need to be staked so they don’t flop over.
“Everything wants to eat them,” she said. “Early in the season when they first start coming up, you’re battling slugs and earwigs, and then later in the season … it’s cucumber beetles and all kinds of other things.”
She uses natural methods when she can to combat the bugs. Dahlias are also pretty picky about nitrogen in the soil, she said.
“It’s quite a challenge, but it’s rewarding,” she said. She credits good luck to her many wins at the state fair.
Delani Starr
Three blue ribbons for embroidery, quilt and advanced crafting in the under 17 category
Delani Starr, 16, has been entering art into the fair since she was 8 years old. She took home three blue ribbons this year for modeling clay, embroidery and in the junior quilt category.
She first got into embroidery during the pandemic, after taking a course.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I really like this,’” she said. She took to YouTube to learn different stitches.
Her hand-stitched design this year featured a girl in a braided bun and flower crown, surrounded by a ring of roses.
“Half of the stuff I do, I make it up,” she said. “The head is a pattern I used, but the bottom part, that’s all me.”
The work took her about a week and a half, she said.
Starr also won in the junior quilt category, for a diamond design with eye-popping colors.
Her third ribbon this year was in modeling clay, for a dessert platter with a slice of cake, brownies and cookies. She even made crumbs for the tray.
Emma Black
Ten blue ribbons for building block design under age 5, largest pumpkin and more
Emma Black, 4, took home 10 blue ribbons this year. Her gardening skills yielded award winning chives, pumpkins, tomatoes and more. She also won first in the building blocks category in the under 5 division.
Her mom, Kristina Eidsmoe, said that Emma has always been interested in gardening. This year, she helped plant the seeds.
“We watched them sprout up to little plants, and then we planted them outside,” she said. “She just really took onto it this year.”
The family attends the state fair every year, but this was their first year entering anything, Eidsmoe said. They were encouraged by Eidsmoe’s sister, who’s involved in New Mexico.
Eidsmoe was not expecting this many wins. She only found out when a friend attended the fair, and started sending pictures of all the blue ribbons.
“She had a lot,” Eidsmoe said, laughing. “We walked up there, I was like ‘this is a whole table of Emma.’”
The wins include a pumpkin, which at eight pounds is about a quarter of Emma’s weight.
Emma’s prize-winning building block design, using DUPLO, depicts the family’s trip to Hawaii. Eidsmoe said she helped Emma dig through tubs for the perfect pieces to complete her vision.
“She’s like ‘I need surfers,’” Eidsmoe said. Those ended up being Buzz Lightyear and Santa Claus.
Emma, encouraged by her wins, already wants to start plans for next year’s garden.
“It just really helped her come out of her box. She’s diagnosed with autism, so it was just something for me to have her interact with and be responsible for. It’s really helped her out,” Eidsmoe said.
Keizer’s first place winners
Kathryn Messer, six blue ribbons:
-Designer/novelty yarn
-Fiber blends
-Wool, piled
-Wool, singles
-Tapestry
-Naturally dyed yarns/skeins/warp
Tiffany Ball, Gluten free cake
Laurie Klein, Lavender cut herb display
Sandra Staats, three blue ribbons:
-Hanging crafts, mixed media
-Hanging crafts, string art
-Quilted items, wall hangings 2-person
Logan Kirkland, miniatures and models
Gary Jack, counted cross-stitch
Dee Smith, Crochet shoulderette/shrug/stole
Amanda Schuck, crochet stuffed toy
Kiah Frank, three blue ribbons:
-Paper arts, alcohol markers
-Paper arts, letterpress
-Paper arts, Halloween
Deanna Stuzman, Junior paper arts (9-12 years)
Stuzman team, grape jelly
Stephanie Burckhardt, grape jelly
Anna Christine Linder-Skach, quilting, paper pieced, 2-person
Christina Patterson, quilting, pieced 2-person
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-704-0355.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
