Mark Your Calendars!

We Need Your Entries in San Diego County Fair
“Summer Pet-tacular”
June 11 – July 6, 2025

Save the baskets and gourds! It’s important that our Guild members keep the San Diego County Fair exhibit on their radar. We encourage everyone in the Guild to enter at least one basket or gourd. This year’s Fair will celebrate the special bonds between humans and their pets and is being held in cooperation with the San Diego Humane Society. To keep updated on deadlines and categories, here’s link to their competition webpage: https://www.sdfair.com/p/participate/entry.

To help make this easier for you, we will be offering members a group delivery and pick-up service! Details will be shared here and in newsletter when available.

There are two areas you can enter: Fine Arts, which is juried (online entry opens mid-January; entry deadline April 28), and Home Arts & Hobbies, which is not juried (online entry opens mid-January; entry deadline April 30).

Categories have not yet been published, but entry classes you might start to consider are: Basket, coiled; Basket other than listed; Gourd, Painted; Gourd, Wood Burned or Carved; Gourd, other than listed; Professional Basket; Professional Gourd. If you only have a gourd or basket produced in a class as an option to enter into Home Arts competition, all you need do is acknowledge the teacher (does not apply to Fine Art entries).

Low entry numbers in a class threatens it’s viability to be an entry class in the following year. We have experienced a number of classes being eliminated as a result of this. You have plenty of time to get your Fair entries prepared, and we hope all of our Guild members will be able to participate this year.

Participants receive 1 free Fair ticket for each entry (Fine Arts receives 2 tickets). Assuming they will continue the practice, the Fair gives cash prizes for Place winners and MWGBG awards a $50 prize for the Best Gourd and the Best Basket. So why not take your chances and enter?

As we have for many years, we are planning to participate in Home Arts and Hobbies demonstrations at the San Diego County Fair. There’s free entrance and parking for the volunteers. Members always have a good time, meet a lot of nice people, and have time to take in the Fair. We hope many of you can join us this year.

Information about demo dates and signing up will be shared when available. We typically have been assigned four dates, so hopefully you can find a one that works for you. Overall, this is one of our best community outreach opportunities to educate the general public about gourd and basketry art.