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FAIRMONT - Getting ready for the fair is a year-round labor of love for Marge Tish.

She's been submitting entries in county fairs since she was 12, when she was first old enough to join 4-H. Almost 70 years later, at age 81, her enthusiasm hasn't waned.

"I get carried away," she said, walking through the Industrial Building at the Martin County Fair.

"Throughout the year I have this on my mind," she said. "And I just think, 'Oh, I could take that to the fair.' I just think fair all year long."

Her entries, adorned with ribbons of all colors, can be found throughout the north side of the building: shiny green apples, tiny purple plums, shallots, jars upon jars of jams and jellies, dried fruits, rolled up apple leather, homemade maple oatmeal bread and a slice of Austrian coffee cake are among the foods she selected and prepared for the fair. Protected in a glass display case with the antiques is her grandmother's watch, an old oil painting of two sisters and a framed family photograph.

"I have many entries, but this is my best, I think," Tish said, pointing to a throw blanket on which she cross-stitched bears and a cabin scene. "... I started it about a year ago. I took it with me any place I went."

The process of organizing, picking and packing all these entries began the first of the month for Tish. She counted 71 items this year - fewer than in the past - as she put them up in boxes to haul them out to the fairgrounds.

"When we were on the farm I had a big garden and I canned everything," she said. "I had many many more entries then. I have a very small garden now."

Much has changed for Tish since she first began participating in county fairs. At the Kossuth County Fair, where she went as a child, the rules were different. In Iowa, rather than submitting many different items, she had to stick with one category for two years.

"That's all you did all year was bake bread - for two years. And then clothing, for two years," she said.

"It was very intense. You really did learn in depth. ... It did get boring too," she said, chuckling. "Intense but boring."

One year as a 4-H girl in the 1940s, she won a trip to the state fair. Her excitement was shortlived though, as the fair was canceled due to gas rationing.

"I was still awarded three dozen wide-mouth Kerr jars," she recalled.

The fair is a time for Tish and others from her generation to share stories and reconnect with faces they may only see once a year.

"She has as many entries as I do here," she said.

"Our kids were all in 4-H together," said Tish, who moved to Martin County in 1966. "... You just see so many old friends. It's fun."

Every year when the fair is over, Tish thinks maybe the next year she will cut back, do less, maybe not even participate at all. But every year she's back, like her "twin," Ruth Johnson. The two share the same birthday, and both remain active at the fair, submitting nearly as many entries as their years on earth.

"It's fun work," Tish said. "That's why I think it must be my hobby."