gaynelle hopton-jones

Since she won a ribbon for a cake in the early 1980s, Gaynelle Hopton-Jones has been “hooked” on entering State Fair contests.

Compelling evidence: five frames hanging in her Lake Highlands kitchen showcase multiple State Fair prizes, including five coveted Best in Shows.

“That’s the one you really want,” she says. After the top entries in each category are selected, they are judged to determine Best in Show. It’s the best of the best. Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, Hopton-Jones, a retired teacher of 20 years at Hexter Elementary, entered and won ribbons for her pies, cakes, ice cream (see recipe on opposite page), pork tenderloin, potatoes, cookies and stuffing, to name a few. She felt enlivened by the contest culture and the friendly competitive spirit, she says.

“You all sort of knew each other. You knew who your rivals were. You might say to yourself, ‘Oh no! She entered. Well, I have no chance now!’ ” Recently she “backed off the cooking contests and started entering collectables contests,” she says.

“When you get older, those cooking contests start to affect you. Someone has to eat those cakes and pies, and it was starting to show on us,” she teases.

Her husband Fred nods in agreement. The lessfattening hobby collection contests at the State Fair, of which there are 100-plus categories, call for pairs of collectors’ items more than 30 years old. Gay’s husband Fred (unbeknownst to him, initially) took a prize years ago for a Roy Rogers and Dale Evans lunchbox and Thermos set.

“I think it won because of the Thermos. Those are rare because the insides are glass, and kids broke them,” Hopton-Jones says.

Fred, who has collected cowboy memorabilia since childhood, also has won for his Hopalong Cassidy and Gene Autry porcelain plates. In a room upstairs, next door to the cowboys collections room, Hopton-Jones has an impressive collection of pristine antique dolls, teacups and saucers, hats and Brownie items. Several have garnered ribbons.

She credits her mom with teaching her how to collect and maintain precious items. Take the Brownie camping kit, for example.

“She knew this meant something to me, and she preserved it.”

She picks up the little knife, smiles and says she remembers using it as a girl. This year, she entered a couple of antique hats, Cissy and Cissette dolls and a Brownie handbook.

The couple plan to visit the 2012 State Fair, as they do each year, several times.

Spiced Texas Pecan Ice Cream recipe, by Gaynelle Hopton-Jones

5 oz pecan pieces 1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp egg white 1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tbsp water 1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp allspice 1/4 c white sugar

Mix all ingredients except pecans. Blend well. Add pecan pieces and stir until well coated. Coat large baking sheet with cooking spray. Spread pecan mixture on sheet. Bake at 275 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Ice cream mixture:

2 1/4 c heavy cream 3 egg yolks

3/4 c whole milk 1 c spiced Texas pecans

3/4 c packed brown sugar

Heat cream, milk and brown sugar in heavy pan, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves and mixture is hot. Place egg yolks in bowl and whisk briefly. Still whisking, slowly pour in about 1 cup of hot liquid. When mixture is blended, slowly pour it back into liquid in pan, whisking constantly. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and coats back of spoon, about 8 minutes. Do not let boil. Strain into clean bowl and chill thoroughly. (You can do all of this the day before.) When ready to make ice cream, stir pecans into ice cream mixture and pour into 1 quart ice cream maker to freeze ice cream.

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more Lake Highlands contestants

Gerry Flewharty has entered her gourds in the Texas State Fair and other craft-related contests since 1999. She has since amassed a total of 45 ribbons and 20 first-place blue ribbons. “Iparticipate in three annual shows —the State Fair of Texas, Southwest Gourd Fine Art Show and the Texas Gourd Society’s Lone Star Gourd Show,” she tells us.

Gourds, by the way, are vegetables — members of the cucumber family. A 1995 gourd display in Santa Fe, N.M., inspired Flewharty’s early work, she says. She carves the sturdy squash-esque produce into sculptures and uses them as canvases for ink dyes and paint. From them she has created folk art, masks, purses, miniature animals and Christmas ornaments, to name a few.

Gayle Vaughan claims to be the “Great State Fair of Texas’ biggest fan.” Year after year she enters jams in the Creative Arts competitions. “My best showings were first place for blackberry jam, second place for peach jam and a whole lot of third and honorable mentions,” she says. “My husband and I also buy season passes to the fair, and go probably a dozen times each year. My parents even come down every year from Minnesota just to see one of the greatest state fairs in the country.”

Holly Daiker is a regular submitter to various State Fair contest categories. Possibly the most interesting items, she says, are her antique silver pieces. “The silver comes from my mother’s family, who lived in Maryland.They arrived in this country with William Penn.”

In addition to collectable silver, she has entered antique children’s books. Her first entry and first blue ribbon was for a stitched sampler from 1811.