Sabrina Johnson, 13, of Longmont, practices putting a halter on her horse, Starr, Tuesday evening at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in preparation for her events at the county fair this week. Nissa LaPoint photo

“It’s bragging rights,” Aaron Dew said about the vegetable contest ough at this year’s fair. “For me it’s kind of a social thing and at the same time I get to learn more about vegetables.”

The vegetable contest is one of dozens of events and shows during the 141st annual fair that starts Tuesday and ends Saturday at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont.

Gardeners from around the county will arrive Tuesday bearing prize cherry tomatoes, cabbage, enormous pumpkins, cucumbers, artichokes — you name it and the fair will judge it.

This year there are 100 vegetable categories for gardeners to compete in, each of which offer eight classifications. New this year is a class designated for home-grown flowers and a new category for leafy greens.

“We want people to have fun,” said Dew, who is organizing the vegetable competition.. “We also want to encourage kids to have a love for gardening.”

The competition is divided into two groups, one for adults and one for children. There’s no limit on how many categories or how many vegetables a person can enter in the contest. Each vegetable is judged for its color, taste and size.

An otherwise free contest will cost gardeners $5 if vegetables are entered Tuesday, but each contestant has a chance to win a cash prize, Dew said.

Each contestant will also receive free seed packets made possible by new sponsorship this year from Botanical Interests, a seed company owned by Niwot’s Curtis Jones by Judy Seaborn. The company focuses on providing high-quality seeds and information to inspire and educate gardeners, according to marketing director Shayna Lashway.

“We’re donating the prizes that will be an assortment of seeds and other goodies,” she said.

Each year brings some new and dedicated gardeners, Dew said.

Dew himself has entered vegetables for five years and last year won a prize for a grand champion red cabbage.

“It was like a center piece,” he said. “The color, a maroon color, was just beautiful.”

During the competition this year, he plans on surveying contestants about their experience to determine what can be improved for next year. He will also seek out more sponsors.

“I’ve got all these new ideas on how to improve this,” Dew said.

The fair officially starts Tuesday morning a 6 a.m.and includes a range of events such as the llama show, yarn contest and a ballet on horseback show in the arena.

Wednesday is agriculture day, followed by Thursday, which is senior day. On the weekend, people can participate in the carnival, listen to a band or watch the rodeo.

Sabrina Johnson, 13, of Longmont has been practicing for months in anticipation of the county fair. She practiced riding and putting a halter on her horse at the fairgrounds last week. She will enter a barrel racing contest, halter contest, showmanship and other contests in her class.

“I’ve been busy practicing,” Johnson said. “I’m practicing everything on my horse. I think I’ll do well.”

Email: nissa@longmontledger.com

Carol O'Meara Gardening After Five

Normally, when an insect attacks the vegetable garden a gardener’s revenge is swift and decisive.  Although we don’t mind sharing, some bugs take more than their portion, stripping plants to the point where we have to show them the door – or the neighbor’s garden – and order them to leave.

If you see these fellows in your garden, usher them to the door.

But this summer a beloved insect is back on the plants, nibbling on members of the carrot family and delighting everyone who sees them.  Announcing their presence with a striping of black, white, and yellow, the parsleyworm (Papilio polyxenes) is one visitor you might want to let stick around.

When little, this caterpillar’s coloration has it dressed up like bird droppings, something that makes predators think twice before eating it.  If the predator is determined to chomp them, the parsleyworm has another trick up its sleeve:  they push a pair of orange, smelly “horns” from their head.  As long as you’re not sniffing their head when they do this, it’s an endearing trick.

Yes, they’re eating the parsley.  And the dill, fennel, and carrots.  This is a small price to pay for nurturing the Black Swallowtail butterfly, which is what these very hungry caterpillars grow into.  Should you want to control them, pick them from the plant or spray with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), an organic insecticide.

But if you choose to let these lovely creatures live to become adults, don’t worry if your caterpillars disappear from the plants.  After stuffing themselves, the caterpillars roam about, looking for a place to spin their chrysalis in which to pupate.  You’ll see your parsleyworm again, this time as an adult, a large black butterfly with yellow and blue spots.

Flitting through the garden, sipping nectar and visiting flowers, this butterfly and its two close relatives, Tiger Swallowtails, are as welcome as fireworks on the Fourth of July.  Attracting them to your garden is simple: plant food for the caterpillars to eat, such as parsley, carrots, or dill for Black Swallowtails and willow, green ash, or chokecherry for Tiger Swallowtails.

Don’t forget to add in flowers to give adults nectar to sip, particularly butterfly bush (Buddleia spp.), geraniums, butterfly weed (Asclepias spp.), or zinnia.  After all, you don’t mind sharing, do you?

Carol O’Meara’s blog at gardeningafterfive.wordpress.com

An an effort to poke fun at the outrageous way designers often market their latest uptown fashions, Beloian and Walker recently teamed up to produce a vibrant photo exhibit that recreates their own version of eccentric high-fashion print campaigns.

Beloian says she thinks many apparel ads in glossy New York fashion magazines are elitist and wonders why anyone would take the images so seriously.

“They cater to this population that has a tremendous amount of disposable income that feels very out of touch with where most of us are right now in this economy,” she says. “In contrast, I see images of people losing their homes.”

An art teacher and award-winning painter who typically works in mixed media, Beloian picked up her digital point-and-shoot camera and took aim at the fashion industry. Fortunately, she had a willing male model in Walker, her brother-in-law, who is highly photogenic and seems as self-assured as he is good-natured.

Their artistic collaboration resulted in the photo exhibit parody titled, “Granfalloon: Any color as long as it’s green,” which recently was featured at the Longmont MUSE Gallery. The fabricated word, Granfalloon, comes from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr’s book, “Cat’s Cradle,” a satire about the arms race, and refers to a group of individuals who claim to have a shared but meaningless connection.

The Granfalloon photo exhibit was multi-dimensional, tongue-in-cheek, and full of fun twists and turns. For the show, Beloian and Walker created a fictitious storyline with a top male model coined Benjamin Swanson (aka Adam Walker), who works for the invented fashion designer, Jorg Bivendorf. Bivendorf even has a Facebook profile and loads of fans.

The resulting collection of 22 images is colorful, visually striking and funny. Each photo has a corresponding caption that’s been appropriated from an advertising campaign slogan such as “Eat like a local,” or “Feel the vibration. See the growth.”

Beloian photographed Walker in a variety of “plebian” Longmont and Boulder settings, and he wore wild and wacky outfits assembled from a box of randomly salvaged clothes and accessories they had collected. Particularly zany items include goggles, caps, capes, gloves, scarves, sunglasses, a pinstripe suit, a dress made out of bras, pants, shirts, skirts, funky shoes and belts, and even a welder’s helmet. In fact, he looked a little like Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen’s faux cinematic fashion maven.

Walker, as his alter ego, Swanson, is daring, physically flexible and willing to be photographed wherever — hanging from a roadway rail, walking in a tree, crouching on a snow laden railroad track brandishing a sword, smacking an oil drum with gusto, flattened on the ground wearing an aqua garden hose, or jumping with a cape into midair.

In another photo “Swanson” stands on a yellow climbing rope grid in front of a red playground rocket wearing a superhero-esque ensemble with a turquoise colored headdress reminiscent of a bird.

And it’s truly hard to miss “Swanson” standing in a field of cattails wearing a Russian-style fur cap, black and white plaid jacket, lime green shirt, white vest and fuchsia colored slacks.

Granfalloon also was interactive, as visitors at the MUSE Gallery were encouraged to don their own crazy outfits from a clothes rack for a personal studio-style photo.

Beloian and Walker hope the photographs inspire people to question their own notions about fashion and how it can impact one’s sense of self-esteem. Beloian says she avoids reading fashion magazines and finds some ads hurtful.

“The bodies portrayed in these images are unrealistic and people don’t look like that,” she says.
Walker, a composer and actor, objects to the commercialism of fashion with its inherent design logos, name brands, billboards, and messages.

“You’re not wearing the clothes, the clothes are wearing you and they’re in control,” he says.

See Angela Beloian’s Swanson/Jorg Bivendorf photos at www.beloian.com.

Email: evm@infionline.net

The ColoRODans Nostalgia Cruise and Rod Festival comes to Longmont this weekend. Cliff Grassmick, file photo

New to the 40^th anniversary celebration will be a Friday night downtown concert featuring Pure Prairie League, Saturday night cruising on Main Street for Rod Festival registered cars. In addition, Sunday Rod Festival activities will be in the new location of Roosevelt Park featuring annual favorites such as poker runs, show and shine as well as booths and attractions for spectators.

For the annivesary, the group has joined with the Longmont Downtown Development Authority and the Longmont Area Visitors Association to bring classic car collectors from across the Rocky Mountain region, according to a news release from LAVA.

Today’s Rod Festival activities, featuring poker runs, “show and shine,” as well as booths and attractions for spectators, will be held at Roosevelt Park.

Local classic car owners are invited to register and participate. ColoRODan event organizer Terry Campbell credited Longmont City Council member Gabe Santos for introducing the cruise idea.

For more information, go to www.colorodans.org and www.visitlongmont.org or call the Longmont Area Visitors Association at 303-776-9011.

Rising Gael.

Rooted in Celtic influences, the band also incorporates everything from Scottish bagpipes, yidaki, harmonica, African drums, bass and piano. The band currently is experimenting with more of a Celtic rock sound, featuring a one-of-a-kind percussion rig that combines the intricate beats of the bodhran (Irish drum) a traditional drum kit, according to a release from the band.

Rising Gael has played together for six years. Jeff Olson plays the bodhran and Scottish bagpipes; Erin Ellison performs on vocals, flute and whistles; Peter Tissot plays guitar; and Katie Dionne performs on the fiddle. All are college students living in four different cities — Madison and Milwaukee, Wisc., Austin, Texas and Boston.

“Living in different cities in different areas of the country has challenges, but it also has broadened and matured our music as we are exposed to different genres of music and life experiences in the cities where we live, and incorporate those experiences into our band’s music,” Olson says.

This piece of 'trench art' was made from World War II-era Canadian ammunition. Hollingsworth Fine Arts, Courtesy photo

“The term ‘trench art’ applies to any item made by soldiers, prisoners of war, or civilians from war material or any other material associated with armed conflict,” according to a release from the museum.

Trench artists used artillery shells, bullets, shrapnel, aircraft parts, currency and other metal scrap and applied materials.

Modern trench art stems from World War I (1914-1918). Thetrench warfare that was the hallmark of this conflict left war materials littering the landscape.

Trench art continued to be made by local civilians shortly after World War I as souvenirs for widows and families visiting the battlefields of Europe. The tradition was resurrected during World War II.

The exhibit features the anonymous work of trench art makers from the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Italy and Hungary.

Admission to the exhibit is free.

There also will be two public programs associated with the exhibit:

Wednesday, Aug. 25, 7 p.m. — showing of “All Quiet on the Western Front.” Based on the controversial novel by Erich Remarque novel, the 1930 film explores the horror and futility of World War I. Admission: $5.

Wednesday, September 15, 7 p.m. — Longmont author Andrew Brozyna will discuss his new book, “Longshore Soldiers,” about the experiences of the 519th Port Battalion in Europe during World War II. Several pieces of trench art from the soldiers of the519th are included in the exhibit. Admission: $5, members of the Friends of the Museum admitted free.

The Longmont Museum & Cultural Center is located at 400 Quail Road in Longmont. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday,Wednesday evenings until 8 p.m., 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays, and closed Mondays. Admission is free.

For more information, contact the Museum at 303 651-8374 or visit their website, www.ci.longmont.co.us/museum.

Wende Harston and Hank Troy of the Queen City Jazz Band at the 2008 Longmont Jazz Festival.

Five groups will be featured Saturday and four on Sunday.

The Saturday lineup will be:

Longmont All-Stars — high-school jazz band directed by Bill Wilkinson, noon to 1 p.m.
Roger Campbell and After Midnight — small group swing in the style of the Benny Goodman Sextet, 1:20 to 2:40 p.m.

Manny Lopez Latin Jazz Project — quartet focusing on Afro-Cuban music, 3 to 4:20 p.m.
Bob Montgomery Band — featuring the music of Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, 5 to 6:20 p.m.
The Wendy Fopeano Quartet with Marc Sabatella — jazz vocals backed by piano, bass and drums, 7:20 to 8:40 p.m.

The Sunday lineup will feature Mark Sloniker (piano) and Friends,Gabe Mervine (trumpet) Quartet, Wil Swindler (sax) Elevenet, and The Crystal Swing Band, times to be announced later.
All performances are free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chair for seating in the pavilion.

The festival is sponsored by The City of Longmont, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, Jamey Abersold Jazz, Todd’s Guitars, KUVO, Miller Music and KGNU.

For more information, check the Longmont Jazz Association’s Web site at www.longmontjazz.org.

A supernova blast wave slams into clouds of interstellar gas of this false color image of the Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnant. NASA/Hubble Space Telescope, Courtesy photo

The Milky Way galaxy, a swirl of spiraling arms of roughly 400 billion stars, slashes across the sky higher than any aerial shell in the arsenal. Here, stars of the seven basic spectral types, including bluish-violet, blue, cyan, pale yellow, yellow, orange and red, pack together into brilliant concentrations, embedded in its spheroidal halo of nonluminous material.
Of course, skywatchers can’t see all of the galaxy’s stars because the arms reach beyond the limits of the southern and northern horizons. The starlight from hundreds of millions of suns is blocked by unimaginable volumes of interstellar dust. Also, about half are dim and reddish M-dwarf stars, which aren’t visible to the naked eye. At best, only about three thousand stars can be seen in the sky with an unaided eye on a dark clear night with no light noise, so it’s best to use stargazing binoculars and telescopes.

The Milky Way sparkles its way toward zenith between constellations Scorpius, “the Scorpion,” and Sagittarius, “the Archer,” about a third of the way above the southern horizon by nightfall. This is the center of the galaxy. Three galactic arms of the Milky Way intersect in Sagittarius, making this region one of the most interesting in the Northern Hemisphere. This span of sky is filled with dwarf galaxies, nebulae, clusters, trains and chains of stars, and faces toward an astronomical radio object called Sagittarius A-star (Sgr A*), a supermassive black hole massing 2.5 million suns.

Observe Constellation Scorpius, seasonally positioned above July’s southeastern horizon by nightfall. Many a lawn chair vantage provides an excellent view of the scorpion’s red supergiant alpha “heart” star, Antares, as well as the 15 bright stars that compose this oldest of modern constellations.

Scorpius is filled with many objects including nebulae and concentrations of stars called globular clusters. M4, one of the closest globular cluster to the solar system at 7,200 light years distant, contains more than one hundred thousand stars. Scan the deep sky region in and around these two constellations with binoculars to locate the abundant open star clusters.

Following the star trail higher, it becomes apparent that the stars don’t resolve out into distinct individuals but rather blend together into huge amorphous fields called star clouds. Vast rivers of darkness, which are composed of interstellar dust, cut across them in great swathes. Explore the Cygnus Star Cloud, easily found by locating the Northern Cross asterism within Constellation Cygnus, “the Swan.” By midnight, it’s directly overhead, accompanied by the Cassiopeia, Vela and Carina star clouds.

Cygnus contains open star clusters and a variety of bright stars, including Albireo, a double star, and Deneb, which serves as the swan’s tail.

Deneb, a blue-white star, is by far the most impressive firework in the night sky to contemplate. With a surface temperature of 14660 degrees Fahrenheit (compared to the sun’s 9941 degrees), it’s the most luminous star known, shining 60,000 times more brightly than the sun, and stands 200 times wider. If Deneb were placed in the center of the solar system, the surface would reach as far out as the earth’s orbit.

The moon is full 7:37 p.m. July 25.

Email: zantzinger@earthlink.net

Suzuki Grand Vitara is an off-road monster

In other parts of the world where Tahoes and Hummers are not ubiquitous, the venerable Grand Vitara is seen not only as a pretty premium back-country worthy machine, but one that’s compatible with a wide range of aftermarket tweaks.

Subsequently, when I got a private test of an especially well-tweaked GV customized by Australia’s ARB Airlocker Inc. company, I was quite impressed and found it to be one of the more fun vehicles I’ve driven off the pavement.

This particular Suzuki was fitted with front and rear Old Man Emu coil springs (oh, you Aussies), a trick front wing with a winch-compatible bull bar, plus gigantic IPF sport lights. More importantly, they’d also wedged–quite literally–a set of nearly square-edged B.F. Goodrich Baja Champion off-road tires, 245/70R 17s, onto the Vitara’s slightly lifted wheels.

The resulting upgrade (less than $2K, minus the rubber) turns the feisty Vitara into a venerable little trail-buster, with only a couple of minor issues.

This is mostly because the standard V6-powered GV is a nicely appointed, four-door SUV with 230 horsepower and 213 lb. ft. of torque, a reasonably roomy interior and a gentle but capable gait. It’s also rated at 23 mpg highway.

Perched on those massive tires and considerably softened by the ARB springs, I was quite impressed how smooth and adaptable even the on-road ride was (no ugly bouncing or ungainly meandering like one of those Monster Trucks). Hell, it was more comfortable than the Corvette I drove the day before, though the high-speed cornering is obviously a little more precarious.
Off-road, the Grand Vitara turned into one of the best vehicles I’ve ever driven on rain-rutted, gouged-out, gravely gunk, my test route being the long and totally unpopulated Rampart Range road that skirts the I-25 corridor from Castle Rock to Monument.

GV-plus sucked up the ruts, the exposed shale, the sandy sludge and even miles of washboard tramline nastiness that would have torn the doors off of a regular automobile. The steering remains flat, the bounce was minimal and controlled, even over washbasin-sized ruts, and I was able to maintain a speed that was entirely Baja-worthy.

Unfortunately, this particular GV really was a show car, conceived for this spring’s Overland Expo in Arizona and while they got nearly everything right, the tires are so huge that they left a less-than-an-inch clearance gap behind the fronts and in front of the rears.

Consequently, really aggressive rock-climbing was not on the agenda; a true pro mod job would require a bit of tinsmithing on the wheel wells and maybe a few more inches of lift to get the right clearance.

Show car also means show car decals and  I did feel a bit like the main character in some sort of Outback survival reality series, as a result. You can equip your version however you’d like.
Grand Vitara’s interior remains pleasant, with a pop-up navigation system on the dash , good air conditioning, a decent stereo (and Bluetooth that will display your text messages), though the totally flat-bottomed seats started to flatten out my bottom after an hour off the road