Is your chocolate cake the hit at the family reunion? Do your kids’ friends want to be at your house the day you make cookies? When you serve your creamy chocolate fudge for card club, is there never any left?

Maybe you should participate in one of the local fairs. As we move into the summer months, fair time begins. The Mercer County Grange Fair kicks off the fair season for the county. Like all the fairs, it provides opportunities for bakers, seamstresses, crafters, scrapbookers and more to show off their talents. Anyone of any age can participate.

Gardeners can display flowers from their yards and gardens and produce from the vegetable patches. There are competitions for flower arrangements and art work. The home canner can display his or her handiwork.

Whether it is quilting or crocheting, knitting or tatting, there is a category to share the results of the artisan’s talents.

Artists and photographers can show off their talents as well. There are many categories from which to choose.

Every fair has many opportunities for children and youth to share their talents and to compete with others about their same age. This is a great project to keep kids busy during summer vacation.

For youth who have animals, whether farm animals or pets, there are often opportunities to show their animals. Many fairs have pet parades.

Organizations can create displays to showcase their groups. These displays are put on tiered shelves and are open to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H clubs, school groups, granges and other organizations.

Though many people enjoy the entertainment or the fair food at their local event, they don’t realize they can be a part of the fair. What better way to become involved in the community than to prepare an exhibit and take it to a fair?

Many fairs will participate in the 2008 Hershey’s Cocoa Classic Chocolate Cake Baking Contest, 2008 Hershey’s Classic cookie, Brownie or Bar Baking Contest, the Pennsylvania Egg Quality Assurance Program (PEQAP) Angel Food Cake and the Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Contest. Winners receive ribbons and cash prizes. The first place winners of these contests are eligible to compete on the state level at the 2009 Pennsylvania State Farm Show. The farm show is the showcase of Pennsylvania’s number one industry.

The first thing to do to participate in a fair is to contact the secretary of the fair and request a copy of the current fair exhibit book. This book provides the rules and regulations for every kind of exhibit, including entry deadlines. This book also provides names and phone numbers of contact people to assist you in entering your exhibit.

Mercer County has five fairs throughout the summer: Mercer County Grange Fair, July 7-12; Jefferson Township Fair, July 22-26; Transfer Harvest Home Fair, Aug. 19-23; Stoneboro Fair, Aug. 27-Sept. 1; and Jamestown Community Fair, Sept. 2-6. To find contact information for any of these fairs visit, www.pafairs.org and click on Fairs.

Make this the year you participate in one of the local fairs. Take home a blue ribbon and a cash prize.

Carol Ann Gregg is a staff writer for Allied News.