When Debbie and Lenny Harmon of Standish were walking through the paddocks at the Fryeburg Fair on Tuesday afternoon checking out the horses, this beauty nuzzled up to her.
Pacers pull their sulky drivers around the back stretch at the Fryeburg Fair on Tuesday afternoon. Visit sunjournal.com for a video from Tuesday’s racing.
The stands were packed and it was wall-to-wall spectators along the fence watching afternoon harness racing at the Fryeburg Fair on Tuesday afternoon.
FRYEBURG — Norma C. “Sunshine” King has entered baking contests at the Fryeburg Fair for 30-plus years.
Petite and quick to smile, she says sweetly, sincerely, that she roots for everyone around her as much as she roots for herself.
Gently pressed, sure, she’ll cop to a slight competitive side.
On Tuesday, King walked away with her fourth blue ribbon of this year’s fair for delicate layers of cream cheese blueberry mousse in a handmade waffle cone.
Wednesday’s other Two Crusted Apple Pie contenders had better watch out.
The Blueberry Dessert Contest began at 1 p.m. as a serious affair. There were 10 entries, from whoopie pies to Bundt cake, the names of their bakers stripped from each.
Two plates sat out for judges Todd Gallagher and Bruce Ela to sample as they consulted their clipboards, scoring details such as texture and appearance.
As two dozen people watched, the judges ate, sipped water, scored and left to tally. Then they returned, ate more, left again.
Cindy Charles of Fryeburg had entered for the first time, a blueberry lemon Bundt cake.
“I caught the bug last year when I won first place in the whoopie pie contest,” Charles said. “I don’t get nervous until they come back out.”
Her sister, Linn Tripp of Stow, had entered with a peanut butter and jelly pie. Their mother sat nearby.
“She’s waiting to see if she has bragging rights,” Charles said.
Allmuth Perzel of Porter didn’t envy the judges. It’s a tough thing to judge different styles of desserts against each other, she said. She watched and waited to hear the winner called with $2 in hand — the going price for a slice of one of the desserts at the close of the contest.
“You wait and see how eager these people are, it’s hard to get a piece of anything,” Perzel said.
She’d entered the blueberry contest in years past and had no luck, but she was a past skillet-throwing champion.
When first, second, third and fourth place were finally announced, King, of Lovell, looked surprised.
“I paid my dues, but I am very humble every time I win because there’s so many wonderful friends who bake,” King said. “I’m always a winner because it’s such a joy to create.”
Her other first-place ribbons of the week had come from a handmade wreath, a shadow box and peanut butter glazed cookies. She had no-bake cookies, apple pie and fudge contests yet to go.
A sculptor who likes to create using materials found in nature, King said baking reminds her of that connection.
“Cooking is (using) things from the Earth,” she said.
A longtime Fryeburg Fair-goer, she has a soft spot for the whole week.
“I love the fair,” King said. “It’s wonderful to know you’re part of this world, and it is a good world.”
kskelton@sunjournal.com
As of Tuesday, Norma C. “Sunshine” King of Lovell had won four of the five contests she’d entered at the Fryeburg Fair this week, including the Blueberry Dessert Contest. She said she roots for everyone else as much as she roots for herself.
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