Picture of a pair of Leather Chaps, which won best in show at the Better Living and Horticulture Show.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
A welcome reprieve from the heat on the grounds, the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede Better Living and Horticulture show celebrates the creativity and talent of city crafters.
The show itself features everything from fibre arts and quilting to flowers and baking, said chair Cathryn Clarke Treiber.
“We bring in quilts, sewing, crocheting, knitting, handicrafts, hobbycrafts, woodcarving, baking, canning, gardening and flowers. Pretty much everything,” said Clarke Treiber. “It’s just something that the Stampede does for the community.”
She says the show is in some ways a reach back toward the roots of town or county fairs, where locals would bring in their best agricultural animals or crops for judging and the chance to win prize money.
While the prizes for being declared best in a category aren’t large, said Clarke Treiber, it does foster a sense of pride in one’s work, especially for the children’s entries.
This year saw roughly 480 entries, which Clarke Treiber notes is roughly half of what they received prior to the pandemic, However, she believes they are slowly building back up.
“I’ve met so many wonderful people through this show,” said Clarke Treiber. “We have the Fibre Art Society and the Cactus Rose Quilting Guild, the Medicine Hat woodcarvers. They come every year.”
One thing that has changed since the pandemic is a focus on mental health, to support and connect members of the community, one of the key pillars of the show.
She encourages everyone to consider creating an entry for the next year, as they now have a year to work on their craft and better get to know their fellow residents of Medicine Hat through it.
