Spam, anyone? What’s on the menu for Washington State Fair competitions

Some people go for the farm animals, others for the Grange displays. My favorite place to head at the Washington State Fair — when I’m not hunting down a Krusty Pup — is way back on the second floor of the fair’s Pavilion building.

Just beyond the hanging quilts and tablescape displays, visitors will find a mini kitchen with a seating area. It’s called the Home Arts area.

Throughout the fair, you can find cooking contests, pie and pickling demonstrations, and even a demonstration on cake decorating. Here are some of the food-based events at the Pavilion that you shouldn’t miss, but there’s also knitting, quilting, sewing and other home hobby demonstrations on the second floor of the Pavilion:

CJ’s Deli and Bakery: The Bonney Lake-based deli with a fabulous pie selection is a fair favorite. This year’s topic is quick pies, at 1 p.m. Sept. 20 and 27 and 3:30 p.m. Sept. 25.

Bourbon Street Bar and Grill: The downtown Puyallup restaurant that specializes in New Orleans-themed cuisine and serves the best beignets in the area will appear at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 20.

Arista Pasta: The downtown Puyallup restaurant featuring a menu of handmade ravioli will appear at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 22.

Wanna Cupcake: The Puyallup-based cupcake company will appear at 1 p.m. Sept. 22.

Corina Bakery: The Tacoma-based bakery will give a talk on cake decorating at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 27.

Kid competitions: The C&H parent-child cookie contest begins at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Brown and Haley parent-child cookie contest will be at 10 a.m. Sept. 19.

Spam: Yes, that’s right. A cooking competition devoted to America’s favorite canned meat. The contest starts at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Fun Spam fact: Jason Munson won the 2011 Spam contest at the Washington State Fair. He advanced to the national Spam competition in 2012 and won with his Maple Spam Doughnuts.

Scones: The Fisher scone baking competition starts at 10 a.m. Sept. 23.

Jam and jelly: The fair’s best jam and jelly competition starts at 10 a.m. Sept. 25.

This story was originally published September 9, 2015 at 8:40 PM with the headline "Spam, anyone? What’s on the menu for Washington State Fair competitions."