DC State Fair 2012

Karl with his Blue Ribbon

The Barracks Row Day Festival was the home to the DC State Fair this past Saturday. Contests celebrating the culinary, craft and artistic talents were held all day. Aksel (with a bit of help from Karl) won an honorable mention for his DC-themed bike and Malin won a 2nd place red ribbon for her poem about tomatoes.

And Karl won a blue ribbon for his honey! It was really interesting to see how meticulous the judges were in their decision making. First, after lining up all 15 jars of honey in a row from darkest to lightest, they decided to give out three first place ribbons in three honey categories -- dark, medium and light.  They then tested the honey for water content and judged it's clarity and lack of "stuff" in it by shining a light through it. They graded the honey on the presentation and cleanliness of the bottle and cap and, of course, they tasted it.

Karl won the Blue Ribbon for dark honey. Top honors also went to two other Capitol Hill bee keepers for medium and light. Way to represent, Capitol Hill!