There was an upset last weekend at Dewey Hall’s third annual Dahlia Festival in Sheffield.
The event had the usual cadre of adult participants hoping to win in each of the ten categories and, with more than 200 entries, the competition was fierce. Veteran gardeners, flower farmers, and novice growers alike competed side by side for winning first, second and third place ribbons in each of the classes, which were based on the various forms that these beloved flowers can take, such as formal decoratives, cactus types, water lily forms, and collarettes.
This year, there was also a Junior Growers category, for those under twelve who decided to grow this cutting garden favorite. Instead of being divided into the usual categories, these flowers were judged on other merits: biggest, smallest, and most colorful. Each of the junior participants was recognized for their efforts and for their ability to leave their electronic devices behind to head out into the garden to care for these flowering tubers. Additionally, 6-year-old Maeve Carroll, 6-year-old Theo Jordan, and 8-year-old Antonia Ketchen took the prizes for size and color. When these awards were announced, the audience was excited to cheer on these young growers, all the while waiting for the two most coveted awards to be announced.
The room went silent as Wenonah Webster went on to announce Judges’ Choice and People’s Choice (a new category in which all the attendees would vote for their favorite). Prior to the event, it was thought that these prizes were likely go to one of the veteran growers such as Maria Nation, Naomi Blumenthal or other long-standing dahlia aficionados known for their array of beautiful blooms. Indeed, many of them were recognized in individual categories along with a surprising number of first-time growers as well. But when Webster announced the award for judge’s favorite was to go to eleven-year-old Ada Ketchen, Webster had a few tears in her eyes as she delighted in the fact that there was a new generation of gardeners to be recognized in the Berkshires. The sixth grader said her first reaction to winning was “Wow. It is so cool that I won.”
As anyone who has ever seen the movie “Best in Show,” Christopher Guest’s mockumentary about dog shows, knows, the judging in such competitions can be fierce and controversial, but in the case of this competition, the judges, which included the former and present directors of horticulture from the Berkshire Botanical Garden Barbara Bockbrader, Dorthe Hvid and Eric Ruquist; Viridissima’s Jenna O’Brien; and Lenox Garden Club co-presidents Barb May and Stephanie Bradford, claimed that the decision was easy and unanimous: the orange recurved flower grown by Ada had met the exacting standards of the judges. Its petals were fresh and recurved beautifully back to the long straight stem of the flower, and its form neared perfection. The variety, ‘Bloomquist Jean,’ has soft orange petals that were reminiscent of the feather cloches that women wore in the 1920s, with the petals almost touching the stem below them. Asked what made her pick the flower, Ada, whose sister had won in the Think Big category, said, “it just stood out in the garden.” Along with her sisters, she helps plant and care for dahlias at their home where they grow them in raised beds.
Her mother piped in that her daughter was so nervous about entering that she could not even get out of the car when the flowers were dropped off the day before at intake for the event. Nicely, in a moment that could have had people seeing themselves in competition with one another, news of her victory felt like a victory for everyone, and has everyone excited about what next year’s event will bring.
And when the People’s Choice was announced (Ada’s flower came in a close second for this award) and was won by first time entrant Latin and Math teacher Rob Rose, bedecked in a Berkshire School sweatshirt, who entered with his son Robert Jr., it had everyone wondering about who should be teaching whom in this upside-down world of flower growing.
And in case someone needed something even more sweet to take in—there were cupcakes by Maeflour Macrons from Hillsdale on hand, with buttercream icing formed into an array of dahlia forms. Not a bad end to a sweet day and weekend.
