WOODBURY – Many towns came together for the 100th anniversary of the Bethlehem Fair, creating the perfect opportunity for Nonnewaug students to showcase their talents. Many art students saw success when submitting art to the fair. Members of the timber team also displayed their skill during their competition.
Nonnewaug Art National Honors Society displayed their talents through face painting. Member of the honors society, Greta Addeo feels that face painting is a fun way to show off her artistic skill.
“I love being able to face paint because I get to be creative but still follow the design,” says Addeo. “It’s a great way to use your talents to make other kids happy.
Andrew Singletary, a senior member of the Nonnewaug High School Timber Team shares that even though their team didn’t win overall, they still had lots of individual success in front of a home crowd in Bethlehem.
“We may not have won the trophy,” said Singletary, “but many of our members set personal records in the various events and several of our team members finished within the top four of each event.”
Andrew Zielinski, an agriscience instructor at Nonnewaug and coach of the Timber Team highlights his favorite moment from the fair.
“It was the first time we had a team get below four seconds in the crosscut event which was really impressive,” said Zielinski who saw the fair as an opportunity for his team to showcase their talent while also a training ground for future events. “The growth of a week between Goshen and Bethlehem seeing the times drop [was encouraging], really putting in the work at practice leading up.”
Along with success from the timber team, numerous Nonnewaug art students submitted their art pieces into the fair, and walked away with accolades, acclaim, and a small pocket of prize money.
For sophomore Isla Jones, the Bethlehem Fair was a unique chance to showcase creative work for the public.
“It took around 2-3 months to fully complete, I had to take it home to work on it a lot,” said Jones. “The other two pieces took about a month each.”
After spending many days working on her art, Jones’ dedication was rewarded by multiple ribbons.
“I was excited about winning ribbons for my art,” shares Jones. “Especially because of how hard I worked on those, it was nice to get recognition for that.”
Ella Quinn, a senior at NHS agrees that it was fulfilling to see her hard work pay off at one of the top fall showcases in the area.
“It was exciting to walk in and hear people talking about my work,” said Quinn of her success at the Bethlehem Fair. “It definitely felt good that people appreciated them because I put a lot of work into those pieces.”
Overall Nonnewaug’s art program excelled with countless students having their work featured for the public. They won two best in the show awards, and placed first in virtually every single category of the show.
“There was a different process for making each piece,” Quinn said. “But the pen-and-ink piece—though the most tedious—ended up being my favorite.”
