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Second generation artist crowned at the Canfield Fair
By Kalea Hall
CANFIELD
Savannah Turek is an artist at heart.
The 7-year-old from Austintown showed her love for the arts with her first-place entry in the 169th Canfield Fair Vindicator Coloring Contest on Wednesday.
She accepted the award while wearing her Artist-at-Heart shirt.
“She’s very competitive,” said Marilyn Turek, Savannah’s mother, who also won the coloring contest 25 years ago when she was 12.
Marilyn has always been artistic, and it seems her daughter has inherited that trait.
“When she was about 2, she was sitting on the floor and she was putting the paint brush between her toes,” Marilyn said.
Her love of art continued as she got older. When playing with flashcards showing various professions, she always made herself an artist, her dad a cook and her mom a nurse.
“She draws a picture every day,” Marilyn said.
Savannah has outgrown all of her baby toys except for a special one: her easel for drawing, painting, coloring and other fun art projects.
She has entered the Vindicator Coloring Contest for the past three years. The first-grader was determined to win this year, which meant she had to bring the picture published in the last Sunday paper in July with her while on vacation in South Carolina.
“We packed the colors and the glue and the glitter,” Marilyn said.
Glitter was essential because her goal was “to make it sparkly,” she says.
From the balloons to the faces of the fairgoers in the picture glitter is everywhere, but placed perfectly.
The final product had to be gently rolled in a tube and shipped off to The Vindicator’s Youngstown office in time for the deadline.
When she found she won, she screamed, and her mother realized how ironic it was since she took home first place for her picture many years ago.
“It was like reliving my childhood,” Marilyn said.
Nena Perkins, community events manager at The Vindicator ,has organized th e newspaper’s display at the fair for more than 10 years.
This year, The Vindicator’s Coloring Contest judging committee had to review more than 250 entries for three age categories and select three winners per category. The winners of the contest receive Best Buy gift cards and a Canfield Fair T-shirt. Savannah plans to buy an iPod with her gift card.
The Coloring Contest “is difficult for the judges because we get a lot of quality work,” Perkins said. “It is a lot of fun; it really is.”
Check out Savannah’s drawing and other winners’ drawings at The Vindicator’s tent next to the grandstand.