Crop Art season opens

  New book from the University of Minnesota Press.
Photographed on a bed of wheat berries.

If you're going to participate, it's time to start thinking about your crop art for this year's Minnesota State Fair exhibit/competition.

The entire Ag-Hort-Bee official rule book is available for download as a PDF at the competitions information page on the State Fair website.

Deadline for registration is Friday, August 10. It's easy to register online. There is no entry fee.

Be sure to review the rules before starting. The registration form asks you what categories you wish to enter and there are a lot of categories to consider.

You must deliver your finished work to the Ag-Hort-Bee building on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on Monday, August 20 between 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Do you need a bit of inspiration before starting this year's Crop Art project? Take a look through "Corn Palaces and Butter Queens" to see all that has gone before.

Before you're finished paging through this book, I'm certain you will be grateful for the 24-inch by 40-inch maximum size restriction in the official Minnesota State Fair Crop Art rules.