Ky State Fair Entries: Something for Everyone
Published on: June 7, 2024
When it comes to the entries at the Kentucky State Fair, the more the merrier is the best motto. There’s no need to pigeonhole yourself to one craft. If you’re an artist of many talents, show them all off just like mother-daughter duo Barbara Thornsberry and Tonya Shelton do.
The pair have a deep-rooted history in the fair that goes all the way back to the 70s when Barbara started participating in the Quarter Horse Show. Once her daughter Tonya came along, she followed in her mother’s footsteps. The family was part of the show for decades but eventually hung up their reins. Years later, in 2018, after Barbara purchased a dollhouse kit, she put a new talent to the test. 
“I accidentally bought a kit for a dollhouse at an auction one time,” said Barbara. “The directions were so complicated, so I boxed it back up and got it back out a year later. Then Tonya joined me in building.” 
After Barbara’s nephew noticed her craft, he, a seasoned fair entrant, encouraged his aunt to enter her art into the Kentucky State Fair in the Hobbies department. The rest of the story is history. The mother-daughter dynamic duo has been entering dollhouses in the fair ever since and always place. It didn’t take long for the pair who owns Useful Things Antiques & Collectibles in High Grove, KY to see their potential could go further than just entering one department, so Tonya branched out into the Fine Art department, too.
Last year, she entered a piece called “It’s All A Matter of Time” – a collage of clocks. She had no clue that her first entry in the Fine Art department would win, but she was floored to see the coveted blue ribbon attached to it when she visited the fair, and she’s eager to enter the same division again this year. 
“I’m not really an artist. I don’t oil paint or anything, so I was tickled to win,” Tonya said.
Tonya and Barbara work together on many of their entries and are each other’s biggest fans. They encourage people to look at Kentucky State Fair entry options, not be intimidated by trying something new, and even work with friends or family on an entry. 
“She’s my biggest fan and my biggest critic,” said Barbara about when the pair build their miniature pieces. “We hash it out until we agree.”
“And then it’s perfect,” said Tonya.
Whether you want to enter the Fine Art department, Hobbies, or any other General Entry department, or all of them like Barbara and Tonya do, there’s something for everyone to try. Barbara and Tonya are proof of that.
“When you go down to the fair, it’s so interesting to see all the different things, and you think, ‘I can do that,’” said Barbara.
They say it’s worth it to get out of your comfort zone and try something new, as you might just discover a new passion and come home a blue-ribbon winner.
“I didn’t think anyone would like my work,” said Tonya of a 2019 Hobbies entry in a division she had never entered. “I saw the ribbon and just cried.”
Learn more about entering the Kentucky State Fair here.
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