Fowlerville Family Fair: It’s a Year-Round Thing
By Dawn Bhajan,
Fowlerville Family Fair Open Class Coordinator
This may seem like an odd time of year to be writing about an event that takes place in the blazing heat of Summer – when shorts, sno-cones, and shade-hopping top the to-do list – but the reality of Fair is this: it’s a year-round thing.
NOW is the time that animals are being nursed and nurtured into future champions. NOW is the time that agricultural planning is underway for prize-winning crops. NOW is the time that creative skills are being honed, recipes tested and refined, collections expanded, classes taken, and projects undertaken… all in pursuit of that coveted blue ribbon.
Behind the scenes, your Fair team is also pushing the accelerator – planning, researching, brainstorming, connecting, scheduling, promoting. 2026 marks our 140th celebration, after all, so this year’s Fair (running July 27th-August 1st) needs to be something special.
Participants have already been making waves in our Open Class program, which forms the competitive exhibition portion of Fowlerville Family Fair that’s open to ALL Michigan residents (ages 5+, no membership required) with an art, craft, canned or baked good, collection, design, photograph, video, crop, or animal to show. Last year, Open Class Exhibitors doubled their entries and packed the Grandstand tunnel with a treasure trove of sights, sounds, smells, and demonstrations to entertain, educate, and inspire the thousands who poured through. It’ll be no small feat to top 2025’s triumphant expansion.
But we’re not ones to rest on our laurels! We’re introducing a slew of intriguing new competitive Classes to springboard off the latest interests and trends. For example, in this year’s Open Class, you’ll be able to enter 3-D printed projects, seed art, pet costumes, stop-motion animation videos, pop-up cards, group-made afghans, painted rocks, graphic mini-novels (à la “Captain Underpants”), video clips of homemade Rube Goldberg (chain reaction) machines, homegrown geraniums, and hair breed sheep… just to name a few.
And this year, we’re making it even easier for your kids to participate with a new Open Class Home Arts Youth entry structure broken down by age in every Department. No more pitting your 5-year-old’s projects against an 18-year-old’s creations! These age breakdowns group youth into Classes with similar ages, meaning clearer judging and more chances to win ribbons and cash prizes!
The Open Class Home Arts exhibit area is even enjoying a refresh, with further renovations and new interactive exhibits being added.
If you’ve been on the fence before about entering in Open Class, make this your year! There are more Classes, more activities, more prizes, and more glory than ever before.
Best of all, you’re currently in the prime season for planning and creating your entries! To learn more about Open Class and view its list of Classes, visit www.fowlervillefamilyfair.com/fair/open-class. Registration won’t open until June 16th, so you have plenty of time to pour over the options, get your family and friends involved, and get a leg up on your next Fair project.
NOW is a great time to seek out inspiration, learn skills, and ask questions via our “Fowlerville Fair Open Class Home Arts” Facebook group. We also encourage you to get involved in helping out! Open Class is 100% volunteer-run and opportunities to help and shape the evolution of Open Class abound NOW. This may be a year-round kind of thing, but Fair week will be here before we know it!
If you have questions or would like to sponsor or volunteer, please contact Open Class Coordinator, Dawn Bhajan, at (810) 923-4582 or dawnbhajan@gmail.com.
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