Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Recycling at the Isle of Wight County Fair

I don't talk about my job much on this blog, but since my volunteers and I worked so very hard to pull this project together and it was part of my life at home for some time as well, I decided to share some pictures from the Fair.

Each year I have varying responsibilities related to our County Fair. This year the goal was to advertise the recycling program, Isle Be Green. I had a volunteer to come to me and offer her assistance because she really liked the program and wanted to help get the word out. So, we decided to turn trash to garden treasure! We literally dumpster dived for many items you'll see in the pictures, gave them a facelift, and then repurposed them into garden art. Enjoy!

County Fair 2011 001

Yes, that was an old ironing board as a directional sign!

County Fair 2011 003

Some may say tacky, but we say beauty! Look closely for the plastic bottle chandelier!

County Fair 2011 018

My co-worker, Gloria, was a super awesome helper this year! She hasn't learned to avoid offering to help me at Fair time. Anything I am involved in requires manual labor, mud, rain, sweat, and exhaustion!

County Fair 2011 014

My co-workers collected and cleaned the labels off of all the bottles shown in the pics. Thank goodness for friends!

County Fair 2011 020

Dynamo made this lovely bottle tree (yes, while he had his cast on)!

County Fair 2011 023

This great creation was made by my volunteer JoAnne! She made this fabulous spider named "Spideroo" out of a trash can, pool vacuum hose, and reflectors we found at the dump.

County Fair 2011 026

He even had baby spiders made out of lighbulbs...

County Fair 2011 028

The screen doors were salvaged, painted, and embellished with stained glass from a local church. My other co-worker cleaned the "gunk" off the glass, which was quite a job!

County Fair 2011 029

The stars of the show were the plastic bag animals made by the local elementary school students. In partnership with a local VA Beach artist, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, and Isle of Wight County Elementary Schools, students were taught to turn trash to treasure! The "guts" of these animals are plastic bags, the legs and other extremeties are made with recycled cardboard, wire, etc. and then they used paper mache to cover them. They were fantastic!

This is super hornet with his bling!

County Fair 2011 011

And, cardinals, lions, and bulldogs!

County Fair 2011 012

County Fair 2011 013

And penguins...

County Fair 2011 034

And, horses...

County Fair 2011 007

We also had three awesome crafts for the kids to do! Overall, it was a fun time. But, we are exhausted. And, Dynamo was so kind to come and help me all day on Saturday and Sunday with the "booth." He was a huge help! It takes a village to teach recycling let me tell you! We also got to walk around a little and enjoy a funnel cake together. He's such a trooper to put up with this for 8 Fairs now!

I hope y'all had a great weekend!



1 comment:

FarmgirlDeb said...

TOTALLY AWESOME! I love turning trash into treasure. Before they took out the unmanned dumpsters in Dinwiddie, my daughter and I used to enjoy going to the dump...just to see what goodies we could salvage! My boyfriend used to complain about it...until the day he came home with something in the bed of his truck, too!