Dressing up
Submitted photo Laila Lopez, models her 4-H buymanship outfit. Judging was held at Weston County Senior Citizen Center on Monday, with placings to be awarded at the public fashion revue on July 28 at the senior center, at 7 p.m.
The Weston County Fair has really tried to “up its game” in recent years, and Laila Lopez, one of the fair’s many contestants, is trying to pitch in by “dressing it up” this year with her static fair projects.
Static projects, unlike animal exhibits, are nonliving projects that are displayed for inspection by judges and the public including artwork, photography, flowers, leather work and many other categories. Laila enters photography and artwork and also competes in a category called buymanship. In the past, Laila, who only competes in 4-H, has entered the same categories, and once even tried her hand at cake decorating.
The process of buymanship is simple. Laila explains it as being “... the process of buying a new outfit on a budget and modeling it. Explaining why you bought the outfit and how it expands your wardrobe.” She said that this has been a passion project and she has been competing in buymanship for quite some time. She showed off her work in that category when the fashion revue judging was held on Monday, at the Weston County Senior Citizen Center.
Photography is another one of Laila’s many interests. She likes to take pictures of animals, as well as sunsets. In the fair this year, Laila has entered pictures of her dog and a sunset picture.
She much prefers performing the work for her projects to actually setting them up for judging, and admits that the worst part of the fair is the system of entering your projects, and showing up at the fairgrounds event center to place your projects in the static exhibit area. Even though this part isn’t her favorite, she likes the fact that the fair allows her to show off her hard work.
She is also able to explain what she does at the Weston County Fair because participants are interviewed on their projects when they are entered. Competitors are asked several questions about the project, and judges want to know about their motivation, the origin of the project, where the supplies were drawn from, and who funded the efforts.
Laila also takes a pen of chickens to show in 4-H, and has been contributing chickens and static projects to the annual county showcase for 10 years as a 4-H member.
Outside of the fair, Laila plays soccer for Newcastle, is active in the NHS student council, and will be a senior this fall. After high school, Laila plans to attend Black Hills State University to pursue a career as a nurse.