There are 39 ways to earn a ribbon in the “Biggest Specimen” contest at the Hunterdon County 4-H and Agricultural Fair.
Home gardeners love to boast that their fruits and vegetables are the biggest, tallest and longest and the show will determine bragging rights. The fair runs Wednesday, Aug. 19, through Sunday, Aug. 23, at the County Park, Route 179, south of Ringoes.
The vegetable show has 38 classes that range from the biggest beet to the longest carrot to the largest sunflower head. There’s also a class for the “most unusual looking” vegetable. So if you have a squash that resembles Elvis or a pepper featuring Nixon’s face, bring it in.
Separately, the fair has a show to select the best vegetable specimens based on uniformity, quality and other attributes. Entries for both will be accepted at the fairgrounds on Tuesday, Aug. 18, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
In the Biggest Specimen show, there’s no variety distinction in classes, except where a name is mentioned. Produce should be of a reasonable quality for judging. Classes include biggest beet, six longest wax beans and lima beans, largest carrot, longest cucumber, biggest ear of corn, biggest muskmelon, biggest onion, biggest pepper, biggest pumpkin (several variety classes), biggest squash (several variety classes), three biggest tomatoes, three biggest peaches, pears and plums, and biggest watermelon.
See the 4-H fair entry at www.co.hunterdon.nj.us.
