The Urban Fair is a new event hosted by Hillsdale Farmers’ Market. We need your homemade preserves to help make it a success. Each Sunday in September, we’ll be taking entries for the Preserves Showcase. Our version of a county fair, this is your opportunity to win an Urban Fair ribbon for your best home preserve. Who qualifies? You! We encourage preservers of all ages to submit their water-bath canned preparations. Bring two jars and a registration form to the market info booth between 10am and 2pm on September 7, 14, 21, or 28, 2014. Visit the info booth for more information, or follow this link to our website: http://www.hillsdalefarmersmarket.com/2014-urban-fair/

Entry Categories for the Preserves Showcase

Jam Preserves: Spreadable goodness, savory or sweet, single ingredient or blended combinations. Submit your best toast-topper to this category!

Pickled Preserves: Vinegar- or salt-brined; sour, spicy or sweet; classic or creative preparations. Submit your briny masterpiece to this category!

Nostalgic Preserves: This is an open category that could include jam, pickles, sauce, relish, or anything that came to you from your preservation elders. Think Grandpa’s tomato sauce, a pickle recipe your great Aunt was famous for, Mom’s amazing chutney. This category is a nod to the generations past that inspired you to preserve and whose flavors are worth carrying forward.

Ribbons will be awarded in each category for the following classifications:

Best Single Origin preparation: A preserve that best showcases a single fruit or vegetable ingredient, be it Hood strawberries, Chester blackberries, or Persian cucumbers.

Best Combined preparation: A preserve that skillfully harmonizes two or more main fruit and/or vegetable ingredients.

Best Appearance: A preserve that is worthy of displaying at the front of the shelf, whose colors and textures are an artful addition to any pantry. Only entries in smooth-sided jars will be considered for this prize category.

Best Young Preserver: The most outstanding preserve made by an entrant 18-years of age or younger.

Download the Urban Fair Handbook and Registration Form Here: http://www.hillsdalefarmersmarket.com/urban-fair-documents/

Each entrant will receive an Urban Fair souvenir as thanks for participating, and will be automatically added to a raffle for preservation-themed prizes. Raffle prizes will be awarded the day of the Urban Fair (you need not be present to win).

The Urban Fair is a celebration of local fruit and vegetables and we encourage participants to source the majority of their ingredients from market vendors, local farms, or their own garden.