I read through the Puyallup Fair's rule book and found a very brief mention that I can submit a written protest of the judge's decision within 24 hours of discovery of the ruling, accompanied with a $25 fee. The fee is returned if the judge's ruling is overturned. Otherwise if the judge's ruling still stands, I lose the $25! The prize money for first place is $5!

I've been debating if I should give up the fair contest scene. I could invest energy into getting this judge removed but there is no guarantee that the person who takes her place will make unbiased decisions. The only way to avoid awards going to certain types of doilies would be to have a panel of judges. No fair competition that I am aware of employs the use of a judging panel.

My other idea is to submit my work to different fairs in the state next year and see how those judge's score my work. The Clark County Fair and the Evergreen State Fair are large regional fairs that may be a venue for me to explore.

Clark County Fair has just one class for crocheted doilies, 35" and under so that means I would be able to enter just one item. Probably not worth the drive there to submit something.

The Evergreen State Fair has some interesting rules. All doilies under 20" must be sewn to black poster board! And here's a note on color. They have separate classes for white/ecru and for color. So technically I could enter a white or ecru doily and a colored one. Sweet! At the Evergeen State Fair it looks like I could enter up to fourdoilies based upon the four different classes recognized. Their size division is for 14" or under, which is not as difficult to accomplish as 12" or under.

The hitch about the Evergreen State Fair is that it's up in Monroe. Monroe is out in the middle of nowhere. It would be a 2½ hour drive to get there. The only bonus is that on the way to Monroe is a great little place for breakfast in Maltby. Maybe the drive wouldn't be so horrible if there was a good breakfast to be had.