TABLESCPING: The County Fair Comes to My Table
How one grandson’s suggestion became a four-generation family affair
BY PAT BURNS
County fairs have always been a feast for the senses. Beyond the rides, games and irresistible smells of fair food, there are exhibits celebrating just about every kind of creativity imaginable: flower arrangements, photography, quilts, crafts, prize-winning animals and more.
But I’ve always had a favorite.
The tablescaping displays.
Give me a beautifully set table built around a clever theme, and I’m going to stop and study every detail.
On my most recent visit to the Orange County Fair, I was reminded that I’m certainly not alone. The tablescaping displays drew a steady crowd. People weren’t simply walking by. They were stopping, leaning in, reading the descriptions and pointing out details to one another. Men and women alike seemed genuinely fascinated by the creativity that went into turning an ordinary table into a little world of its own.
“I’ve always believed there is something special about setting a beautiful table. But this one reminded me that the best tables aren’t really about the plates, glasses or centerpieces. They’re about the people whose stories gather around them.”
And perhaps that’s why I love tablescaping so much. A beautifully set table doesn’t just decorate a room. It tells a story.
The story of my county fair table, however, didn’t begin with me.
It began with my grandson Dylan.
Last year, Dylan visited the fair’s tablescaping exhibit and came home with a suggestion for his grandmother:
“Why don’t you do a county fair theme?”
That was all it took.
The idea went into that part of my brain where tablescapes apparently live rent-free, and I started imagining how I could bring the sights, colors and whimsy of a county fair right onto my dining-room table.
Before long, my daughter Michelle got involved. She discovered a wonderful miniature carousel with flying swings and decided it had to be part of the table. She bought it for me, and right away I knew it would become the centerpiece.
There was just one minor detail.
Someone had to put it together.
Enter my 16-year-old granddaughter, Cosette.
Cosette studies stage and theater design, so she is accustomed to creating sets, working with props and figuring out how things fit together. Even so, this carousel tested her skills. It arrived in what appeared to be approximately one million tiny pieces.
Ten hours later, all those tiny pieces had become a wonderful working carousel, and the centerpiece of my county fair table was finally ready.
Bringing the Fair Home
Once the carousel was finished, I could build the rest of the story around it.
That is one of the things I love most about tablescaping. You don’t have to recreate a theme literally. In fact, I think it’s more interesting when you don’t.
“But somewhere along the way, I realized this tablescape had become about much more than a decorating theme.”
Instead, I look for elements that capture the feeling of a place or an experience.
For my county fair, whimsical plates bring in the carnival rides, balloons and animals. A small pig gives a nod to the livestock barns. Textured placemats add a little country flavor, while colorful glassware, candles and layered dishes keep the table feeling special enough for a celebration.
Everywhere you look, there is something else to discover.
And isn’t that exactly what happens at a county fair?
You may go for the Ferris wheel, but then you discover the prize-winning quilts. You stop to see the pigs and chickens. You smell something deep-fried that absolutely should not be deep-fried and immediately consider eating it anyway.
A county fair invites us to wander, look closer and have fun.
That’s what I wanted my table to do.
Four Generations Around One Table
But somewhere along the way, I realized this tablescape had become about much more than a decorating theme.
Dylan inspired it. Michelle found its centerpiece. Cosette spent ten hours bringing that centerpiece to life. And then came the opinion that may matter most of all.
Dylan took his daughter, my great-granddaughter Rylan, to the county fair. After looking at the tablescaping displays, she announced that she thought my tablescapes were better.
Now, I am certainly not going to argue with such a discerning young critic.
Four generations had become part of one table.
I’ve always believed there is something special about setting a beautiful table. But this one reminded me that the best tables aren’t really about the plates, glasses or centerpieces. They’re about the people whose stories gather around them.
And that’s quite a lot of family
history sitting on one dining-room table.
