Spearfish Teen "Cleans Up" at the County Fair
Spearfish, SD - The dust had settled on the 2023 fair as Spearfish resident Casie Dale fixed her gaze on a Best of Show ribbon. The big ruffled purple ribbon adorned a pencil drawing of one of her favorite TV show characters, Sam Winchester played by Jared Padalecki on "Supernatural".
She picked up the check for her winning entries in 2023 when the wheels started turning about how much money could be made if she tried to be the first to win the award for entering 75 or more static entries. A few calculations later, she determined the number to be between $300 and $400.
The day after the fair was over in 2023, she went to work collecting materials, knitting, crocheting, drawing, sewing, shading, and planning. Meticulously, Casie went through the fair book and found over 75 suitable categories while she began work on her 2024 fair entries.
As the months after the 2023 fair unfolded through the holiday season, into spring and the months of summer, her work was interrupted for chores, academic tasks, and to fund-raise and attend the nation's most prestigious STEM demonstration in Washington DC.
Tragically, in the midst of her work, Casie lost a best friend and grandma, Nancy Fry, to cancer. Nancy was there when Casie was born, she was there to share stories about Casie's family and ancestors, about their thrift and toughness, about their ingenuity, and about their dedication to family, faith, and hard work. Nancy wanted badly to be there to see Casie's accomplishment, but sometimes the universe has other plans.
Casie's work continued.
As the large plastic storage bins filled-up with her projects, the kitchen also filled-up with the intoxicating odors of practice runs for Casie's food entries, many of which she learned to make at Nancy's side. Using her immediate family as a test market, her recipes were documented and perfected while she planned all nine food entries in the two short days she would have before the fair.
To keep track of all her entries Casie built a spreadsheet containing the categories and descriptions, this also helped her keep track of how much progress she had made and how much work she still needed to do. She created inventory controls to keep track of each entry with the help of her mom, dad, sisters, and 13-year-old half Lab and half Australian cow dog named Butchie (the subject of a few of her photo entries).
The morning of the fair, these inventory controls were used to make sure everything was included in the bins before taking the long and arduous journey to the fairgrounds in Nisland, SD, a town where many of Casie's own relatives still live, love, and work today.
Casie's detailed documentation of her projects significantly eased the burden of entering 87 items (the final project tally) into the fair's open class.
When the dust settled on the 2024 fair, Casie had earned three Best of Show ribbons, the award for most food entries, the award for most handicrafts, and the first ever to earn the award for 75 or more prize winning static exhibits entered in the open class. Out of 87 entries, 67 got first place (including the three best of shows), 17 got second place, and only 3 did not place for a prize. Casie earned a total of $346.