FARMINGTON – When Cordelia Pearl Murphy, age 3, discovered that she was the only contestant in a costume contest held at the Farmington Fair Sunday, she did the only thing one can do in that situation.
She crushed it.
The Farmington Fair is in its 178th iteration, and every year new events get rolled out for testing. Judy Smith, the community outreach assistant for Franklin County 4-H, thought it’d be fun to have a costume contest on the opening afternoon of the fair. She organized some prizes, decorated the wood-shaving floor of the Worthley Show Ring with a few pumpkins and arranged to have three judges attend. Something for the younger kids, ages 3 and 4, made sense to Smith.
Accompanied by parents Sara and Scott Murphy of Sumner, Cordelia showed up dressed as fairy. She was the only contestant and therefore, presumably, could have written “I am a fairy” on an index card and taken the top prize. Instead, she went the whole nine yards: wings, wand, tiara, dress and slippers.
“I love the sparkly slippers, they complete the whole outfit,” Smith told Cordelia. “What do you think judges? I think we truly have a winner here.”
With a small but appreciative crowd ooh’ing and ahh’ing, the judges provided the thumbs up and, as tradition apparently dictates, the 2018 Costume Contest Winner was allowed to select which of the pumpkins to take home with her.
Whether the costume contest becomes an annual addition to the fair or not, people in attendance felt that Cordelia had definitely earned her prizes/pumpkin. On the way toward the midway with her parents, waving her wand, families stopped to chat, comparing the winning costume with previous ones their own kids had worn for Halloween or at other events.
“You made the show, Cordelia,” Smith said.
It had been a good first effort, Smith said after the show. She said it would be fun to try it again next year.
Nice job Cordelia, at least you were willing to make the effort. Nice costume too. Dance on fairy princess!
I wish the contests could be publicized better so people would know about them! I’m sure many families would attend if only they knew. Thank Bulldog for letting us know about this contest. I bet there would be more families next year!
Just charming! What a sweet effort! I hope it is repeated next year, at least for the 3-4 year old crowd!