More than 600 exhibits of photography, clothing, canned goods, blankets and other arts and crafts from county residents will be shown off at the home and living arts show at the Tooele County Fair — an exhibition organizers describe as one of the integral aspects of the fair.

“It’s the nucleus of the whole fair,” said Arlene Brown, who’s in charge of the entry registration. “Without it, the fair would be just another demolition derby.”

Brown has been involved with the home and living arts exhibits since 1980, when three classrooms at Tooele Junior High School were used to display all of the entries. Now that they’ve moved to the indoor arena at the Deseret Peak Complex, there’s more room for the growing number of entries. Brown believes the home and living arts and 4-H exhibition is one of the prime reasons people visit the fair.

“There are certainly people who come for other things,” Brown said. “But there are those who come just for the exhibits. It’s nice to have a venue that interests a lot of people.”

Brown and home and living arts director Janice Clegg, along with a dozen volunteers, spent several hours on Monday taking the entries from county residents. They brought in homemade, original work for any of the 22 classes that fell into more specific categories and were further separated by division — professional, senior, disabled, youth and adult.

This is Clegg’s first year in charge of the exhibits. On Wednesday, when she and her daughter Lindsay Sundloff were arranging and displaying the entries, she finally got a chance to look at everything that was submitted.

“It amazes me what people can do,” Clegg said. “I hope they’ll take this stuff to the Utah State Fair. As talented as I think they are, that would be wise.”

For instance, Art Mikesell, of Tooele, entered an oil painting in the senior division. Despite having Parkinson’s Disease and switching from his dominant right to his left hand to paint, he wound up winning a Best in Class award.

In each division and class, a Best in Class and Sweepstakes were awarded to the item the judges deemed to be the best. Two Best of Show awards were also given. First, second and third places were given for each class and division. Only one entry per person is allowed per class category. For instance, in the photography class, someone could enter one photograph into each of the still life, portrait and wildlife categories, but the couldn’t enter two in the abstract category.

“We try to be accommodating in all categories,” Brown said. “The state [fair] is more limiting, we aren’t. We like to encourage people to enter their very best work.”

The 4-H exhibition also encourages members of their clubs to enter their best project from each club. Like the home and living arts exhibits, the number of entries for 4-H has also increased over the last few years, with at least 150 entries, according to 4-H program specialist Patty Wheeler.

One of their biggest, and most elaborate categories, is the place settings. Kids involved in 4-H put together a themed place setting display and create a menu based on that theme. One place setting was based on the popular Harry Potter series, using a book and gothic plates and cutlery to decorate the setting.

“It’s our neatest attraction,” Wheeler said. “Years ago they had a lot of entries, and then it dwindled down, but now it’s back again.”

Wheeler believes the overall numbers are up because there are more 4-H clubs and volunteer leaders. Even though most of the clubs are families, there are quite a few community clubs that aren’t just made of family members. Each club can decide on what they want to enter into the fair in any of the eight divisions and further separated subcategories where two entries per club are allowed.

With more entries and a more spread-out space for people to walk through, 4-H and home and living arts organizers hope they’ll get a heavier flow of traffic through the exhibits.

“We need more stands, easels and room,” Clegg said. “We have so many fantastic entries all of excellent quality.”

Fair-goers can view the exhibits beginning today until 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Missy Thompson: missy@tooeletranscript.com