LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky State Fair has passed the halfway point and the state’s best farmers and green thumbs are getting blue ribbons pinned on their top-notch produce.
The state fair is a literal competition cornucopia. Fair-goers can check out the top contenders entering the state’s best cucumbers, squash, carrots, okra, beans, peas, tomatoes, cabbage, peppers, corn, hey, tobacco, honey, potatoes and much more.
Bryan Davis is partial to potatoes.
“This is your red potatoes, your red Norland variety,” Davis told Spectrum News 1. Davis has been coming to the fair for decades and has even earned a few ribbons along the way.
Of all the judging criteria, Davis says one of the most crucial is consistency, consistency among each specimen. Davis says the competition is...“Pretty stiff this year, it looks like. Yeah, been a good year for potatoes.”
He has three entries this year, including red and Yukon Gold potatoes.
This year and for the first time Davis’ niece Cindy Rivette has entered the open competition with her herbs.
“Until now, basil was the only thing I’ve been able to successfully grow,” Rivette said. Even so, Rivette has entered a star-studded lineup of herbs. Her entry includes a lineup of cilantro, dill, sage, thyme, basil, oregano, chives, spearmint, strawberry mint, Italian parsley and rosemary. And Rivette grew them all from seeds.
“Just about everything you want in the state of Kentucky,” Davis says of all the entries.
When the judging was all said and done, Davis’s potatoes garnered two blue ribbons and Cindy Rivette’s honorable herbs earned 3rd Place!