State Fair News

State Fair of Texas issues 2025 guide for arts & crafts blue ribbons

State Fair of Texas blue ribbons

SFOT

The time has come for crafty Texans to showcase their creativity: The State Fair of Texas has issued the 2025 version of its Arts & Crafts and Cooking Contest Guides, now available for download at BigTex.com/CreativeArts.

The State Fair’s Creative Arts team holds two kinds of contests: pre-Fair arts and crafts contests like quilting and jam-making; and Fair-time cooking contests, like best bread and best dish with cheese. There are more than 1,100 arts and crafts categories and 26 cooking contests.

Pre-fair contests
The 2025 Arts & Crafts Contests include Fine Art; Ceramics; Designer Craftsman; Dolls; Canning; Hobby Collections; Holiday Corner; Needlepoint, Crewel, and Counted Cross-Stitch; Needlework and Sewing; Afghans, Rugs, Quilts, and Bedspreads; Photography; Scale Models; Glue-a-Shoe; and The Great Pumpkin Challenge.

Actual registration for the 2025 pre-Fair contests will open online on May 7 with a deadline of Monday, July 28, to submit online entry forms and fees.

Contestants can submit their entries via mail by July 28 or hand-deliver items to the Creative Arts building in Fair Park on August 1, 2, and 3 from 9 am-5 pm.

In the weeks following, entries will be judged, and contestants will be notified once the results are finalized. Entries awarded a ribbon will be displayed during the 2025 State Fair of Texas.

Cooking Contests
The 2025 Cooking Contests include Bread; Cooking With Cheese; Honey, the Magic Ingredient; Beekeepers Honey, Farm to Fork; Chocolate; Pizza Cook-Off; Youth Cooking Contest; Best of Show-Down (invitation only); Play with your Food; Dough-Re-Me Pastry; Soup or Salad; Ice Cream Freeze-Off; The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Challenge; Charcuterie Board; Texas Chuck Wagon; International Cuisine; Speedy Dishes; Fair Concoctions; Chicken or the Egg; Cobbler Cook-Off; Tex Mex; and Candy.

The 2025 State Fair of Texas Cooking Contest Guide and the Cooking Contest Calendar are now available, with online registration opening on May 7, and closing Monday, July 28.

Blue Ribbon Battle
The State Fair of Texas is bringing back the Battle for the Blue Ribbons – a spring cooking competition consisting of three of the Fair’s most popular Creative Arts Cooking Contests: Cookies, Cakes, and Pies, running from May 16-May 18.

Amateur home cooks of all ages may enter for the chance to be awarded first, second, third, and honorable mention for a total of 40 blue-ribbon winners who will be invited to compete in their respective contests at the exclusive Best of Show-Down in the Competition Kitchen during the 2025 State Fair of Texas on October 5, 2025.

One contestant from each of the three contests will be awarded a Best of Show ribbon, allowing them to advance to a head-to-head battle for the Best of Show-Down grand prize. For more information about this specific competition and to register, visit BigTex.com/Battle.

Registration
Participants are encouraged use the online registration system for all contests. It allows the creation of a family account, which permits adults in the household to add additional contestants to the account and register youth contestants. Youth contestants will have their own designated entries for Creative Arts competitions, but all communications regarding those entries are sent to the primary adult on the account.

Although there are paper registration forms in the Arts & Crafts and Cooking Contest Guides that can be mailed to the Fair, it is recommended to use the online registration portal to ensure contestants receive helpful reminders and judging results of their respective contests.

The 2025 State Fair of Texas will opening on Friday, September 26, and run through Sunday, October 19.

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#Winning

Dallas Mavericks hire NCAA champion Dusty May as new head coach

Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Head coach Dusty May of the Michigan Wolverines has been named the Dallas Mavericks' new head coach.

The Dallas Mavericks officially announced Dusty May as their new coach just a few hours before entering the NBA draft with the ninth pick on Tuesday night, June 23.

May is making the jump to the NBA less than three months after leading Michigan to its first NCAA championship since 1989. He had a 64-13 record in two years with the Wolverines, including a 34-3 season that ended with a 69-63 victory over UConn in the national title game.

The Mavericks made their choice to replace Jason Kidd official on the same day they could select the next young player who would be part of building around 2025 No. 1 pick and reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg, who turns 20 in December.

Dallas also has the final pick of the first round at No. 30 and the 48th choice in the second round, which will be held Wednesday.

“Dusty has won at every stage of his career because of his ability to build,” said new president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, who let Kidd go about two weeks after getting hired by the Mavericks. “He develops players, creates accountability and brings people together around a shared standard of excellence. His work ethic is extraordinary, and his teams consistently reflect his values.”

May's title with Michigan came three years after he led Florida Atlantic to its only Final Four appearance. The Wolverines won the Big Ten Tournament in his first season after he inherited a team that went 8-24 under Juwan Howard. It was the school’s lowest win total since going 7-20 in 1981-82.

The 49-year-old May’s record in his last four college seasons was 124-26, an .827 winning percentage that was third best in all of major college men’s basketball over that span behind Houston’s Kelvin Sampson (.861) and Duke’s Jon Scheyer (.832). His overall college record is 190-82.

May spent 21 years in the college ranks after the Indiana native first served as a student manager for the Hoosiers and coach Bob Knight while he was in school there from 1996-2000. Florida, UAB and Murray State were among his stops as an assistant before debuting as a head coach with Florida Atlantic in 2018-19.

“This is one of the most respected franchises in professional sports, with passionate fans, a talented roster, and a clear commitment to building a championship organization,” May said.

Moving on from Kidd was the last part of putting the ill-fated Luka Doncic trade behind the Dallas franchise for good.

Nico Harrison, the engineer of the trade that brought the oft-injured Anthony Davis from the Los Angeles Lakers, was fired in November after the team started slowly in 2025-26. The Mavericks ended up missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season since reaching the NBA Finals and losing to Boston in five games.

Doncic and Kyrie Irving were the key players in that deep playoff run in 2024, two years after Doncic also reached the Western Conference finals with a mostly different supporting cast.

Irving remains on the roster amid lingering questions about his future after missing all of last season. Irving tore the ACL in his left knee in March of last year, a month after the Doncic trade.

“Dusty represents the type of leader we want guiding this franchise,” Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont said. “He has demonstrated throughout his career that success is built through preparation, character, accountability, and an unwavering commitment to excellence.”

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