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Essex Junction, Vermont - August 27, 2010

The Champlain Valley Fair is more than rides, concerts, and animal exhibits. The event also gives a showcase to talented artists.

To Kathleen Berry Bergeron, color is king. "Once I found watercolors, I just fell in love with it!" she said.

The Jericho artist's parents encouraged her as a kid to take painting classes and it's become a lifelong passion. "When I was doing oil paintings, I always know what it would look like in the end, and with watercolors, I can never be sure. That's the excitement for me," Berry Bergeron said.

The mother of five teaches watercolor classes to adult students and sells her work at craft shows and community exhibits. At the run of this year's Champlain Valley Fair she'll have one of her biggest audiences ever. Berry Bergeron was picked as this year's featured artist in the Fair's art gallery in the Blue Ribbon Pavilion. Her finished work is on view along with hundreds of other entries from area artists, in what the Fair says is the largest art show in the event's history.

"Each time I'm in here, I see a different part of it and it amazes me what there is out there; and what lengths people have gone to get the photographs and artwork. It's just beautiful," said Janet Dufrane, the Fair's Art Superintendent.

The Fair used to display art at the top of the grandstand. Not many people seemed able to find it there -- but now that it's here in this air-conditioned building, the popularity has sky rocketed. "If you're walking through the Fair and you're hot or you're tired, come into the Blue Ribbon Pavilion and you'll find yourself refreshed, and hopefully inspired," Berry Bergeron said.

The featured artist calls the Champlain Valley Fair's displays a showcase of the state's beauty. Hundreds of photos, paintings, and more -- all of them, Made in Vermont.

Jack Thurston - WCAX News

www.kathleenberrybergeron.com

www.cvfair.com