We had some wonderful entries for the third annual Progressive Forage Grower Hay Bale Decorating Contest. The votes have been tallied and we have our top three winners! First prize goes to John and Leona Flemmer from Golden Valley, North Dakota. They have been decorating hay bales since 1990.
The art all started from a design John saw in a magazine and then tried to re-create on his own. People will often send them pictures, from which John creates mock up designs made of Tinker Toys. Then he takes his plans into the field.
They have done several different tractors over the years, in addition to this patriotic one – a version of a John Deere tractor has also shown up a few times, for example. This particular tractor was put up in honor of our nation after 9-11.
In addition to their first-place-winning tractor, the Flemmers had another entry in our contest: a "family photo" featuring two hay bale "parents" with their two babies. This project was quite a bit of work because they had to saw the bales into two pieces to fashion the hay bale babies. Their bonnets are patterned after one Leona had as a child.
People love to see their creations. Whenever they skip a year, they get a lot of requests to put them back up. Over the years, they have met many people who stop to take pictures. One family in particular comes all the way from Massachusetts almost every year.
They will be receiving their choice of original artwork prints by Kevin D. Brown, featured on the cover of Progressive Forage Grower.
Our second-place winners are Paul and Mariah Hadler of Busy Barns Adventure Farm in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Their Bucky Badger (official mascot of the University of Wisconsin – Madison) creation, as well as all their hay bale art, has been a big hit with farm guests in their area.
The Hadlers first started decorating bales in 2009. They painted three stacked round bales orange and painted faces on them to attract people to their first annual Autumn Adventure. Since then, they have round bales decorated for every season.
The family draws up a sketch of their final creation, then purchases paint and custom-makes the decorative items they attach. Bucky Badger had large plastic ears painted brown and fastened into the bale with rebar. The "W" was cut out of plywood and secured into the bale with large custom nails made from welded rebar. The football was also created out of plywood, painted and hung onto the fence next to the decorated bale.
The Hadlers also entered the Honeybee bale into our contest. This creation has large plastic wings attached with rebar. The antennae are pipes with tennis balls attached to the top. It even has a stinger made out of a metal oil drain painted black.
Busy Barns Farm is located on a major highway and thousands of travelers pass by. Vehicles are often pulled over so drivers can take pictures of the decorated bales. Families that visit for their farm events look forward to seeing what new, creative things the round bales have turned into each year.
View more of the hay bale creations, plus Busy Barns Farm photos, at their Facebook page here.
Third place was awarded to Josh and Jessica Harris for this Halloween-themed display. Decorating hay bales is one of their family traditions, and they love doing it every year. Their neighbors look forward to their decorated bales and seeing what new things they will create.
They got the idea for this design from some pictures online of similar things but then made it their own. It used "a ton of cans" of spray paint, some old pants and boots.
Our second and third place winners will receive their choice of Progressive Publishing hats.
A very special "thank you" to all of those who entered the contest this year. It's always so fun to see the creativity that goes into these. Your efforts to not only decorate the bales but also to submit your creations to the contest are appreciated!
We'll be looking forward to seeing the entries next year! FG
PHOTOS
TOP: Patriotic tractor. Photo submitted by John and Leona Flemmer.
MIDDLE: Bucky Badger. Photo submitted by Mariah Hadler.
BOTTOM: Halloween pumpkins. Photo submitted by Jessica Harris.
