CASSOPOLIS — A mashup of art projects, culinary treats and useful pieces of furniture and machinery fill the Youth Still Exhibit room at the Cass County Fair.

There are photographs taken by teenagers, a drawing of a mesmerizing horse, highly-rated pieces of blueberry pie, a refurbished tractor and  much more.

On Saturday, all of the projects were submitted, the children were interviewed and Best of Show and BRAVO awards were given. Judges chose winners based on both projects and interviews.

“Art can sometimes be graded a little bit when a kid does it in school, so I think it’s good that we’re still pushing them to do these artistic things,” said Hailey Harman, the MSU Extension program coordinator at the Cass County Fair. “It also helps their interview skills when they come here. Each kid has to go through an interview process on their project.”

The Best of Show designation is given to the top 10 percent of a class in still exhibits, which is broken down by project type and, in some cases, age. fifteen participants also received a BRAVO designation.

“BRAVO is an [acronym] that stands for best, recognized, acknowledged, validated and outstanding,” Harman said.

It is awarded based on a participant doing the best they could, based on their abilities.

“So maybe they didn’t get the Best of Show, but they did the best to their ability,” Harman said. “Maybe a kid has a disability and cannot make a perfect drawing, but they did to the best of their ability and they had a really good interview. They can get a Bravo.”

Some participants were awarded a Best of Show and a BRAVO. Harman said that all peewee participants, children ages 5 to 7 are considered “noncompetitive.” Each will receive a ribbon for entering.

“Our still exhibits have been dropping for many years,” Harman said. “I think showing these kids that they are doing a good job is creating artistic values in them.”

This year, Makayla Dopkowski, a rising eighth grader at Dowagiac Middle School, entered six different projects in the Cass County Fair still exhibits and took home one Best of Show in Perler beads. She created two colorful carnival rides out of Perler beads: a carousel and a Ferris wheel.

“It took a lot of work because I had to build every piece by itself and then hot glue it all together,” Dopkowski said. “I found these designs because I wanted to do something fair themed, so I thought rides would be a good idea. I found the layout online.”

She said she decided to participate in still exhibits because she thought doing arts and crafts over the summer would be fun. She acknowledges that the process was somewhat “chaotic,” though, given that she also competed in several agricultural events.

“It was kind of a last-minute thing because I was worried about my animals,” Dopkowski said. “But for [still exhibits], I got all of my stuff done in about three weeks total.”