A+E

The wild array of inventive and beautiful hats came in useful on a warm, sunny day at the 10th annual Ladies Hat Day  at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale on Saturday. The organizers offered free admission to the fair and an array of attractive prizes to lure the hat wearers to the horserace grandstands. (See the slideshow below for highlights.)
The "Hatagories" for those persons seeking the prizes included: Best Couple or Group; Best Racing Theme; Most Glamorous; Best Youth (12 & under); and, Funniest or Most Outrageous. This year's Grand Prize winner was Carolyn Polasek, of Ferndale, for her inventive, handmade, massive display of fair food items on her broad-brimmed hat. Other prize recipients included Joanna Nagan for Grand Prize Runner Up; Amber Reiners for Most Glamorous; Willow Seely for Funniest or Most Outrageous; Karen Aldrich for Best Racing Theme; Fun girls with Fungi for Best Couple or Group; Best Youth – Margot and Teddy Nims for Best Youth; and Betty Mack, Juliann Stell, Ceva McWhorter Memorial and Heather Ulrey with Honorable Mentions.

After more than 70 women registered at the entrance, they wandered the grandstand area and posed for free photos at the Forget Me Not Photo Booth. Next the contest participants lined up on the dirt racetrack for the Parade of Hats after the fifth race for review by the judges and horse-race attendees. Then the winners were announced after the sixth race and invited into the winner's circle for photos prior to the last race of the day.