By Lisa Meredith and Lynn Barber
Twice each a year, the UF/IFAS Extension Hillsborough County sponsors a Recycled Yard Art Contest, one at the Hillsborough County Fair and one at the Florida State Fair. The purpose of the Recycled Yard Art Contest is to increase environmental awareness and encourage reuse/recycling of materials into yard art. The competition involved two and three dimensional art created from items already used for their original purpose.
During the eight days of the 2017 Hillsborough County Fair, attendees voted for the People’s Choice award on one several entries submitted. The votes have been tallied, all 2,782 of them and the People’s Choice Winner is Jim Dreby, for his Yard Minion which was created using scrap muffler tubing, an air tank, kids’ boots and belt, a tank cover and auto engine pulley.
Margaret Thompson’s Dishes Garden won the Judge’s Choice Award for Adult submissions. She created her glass yard art from various dishes and glassware which look like flowers in a garden.
Eliana Holt’s Birdhouse won the Middle School Award. She used coffee cans, pallet wood, a corrugated plastic sheet and a fence post for her work of art.
All of the contest winning entries will be on display at the UF/IFAS Extension Service, 5339 CR 579, in Seffner until December 4. Please stop by to view these creations, stroll through the Bette S. Walker Discovery Garden and see what the Extension Service has to offer.
The creativity of all of the artists is amazing. Most of the artwork that was entered into the Recycled Yard Art contest would look fabulous in many landscapes. Each of us would probably be surprised at how creative we can be. This is a great time to put on your thinking caps for a Recycled Yard Art project you have been considering creating…and create it. We will have two Recycled Yard Art competitions in 2018; one at the Fair Florida State Fair, and one at the Hillsborough County.
Contact Lisa Meredith meredithL@hillsboroughcounty.org or 744-5519 x 54146.
